P.G. SIX - Murmurs & Whispers [lp]

Back from the silence from which P.G. Six always emerges, the new
album release Murmurs & Whispers is the first proper P.G. Six album
since 2011's Starry Mind.
Time passes slowly, as they've been known to say out in the
country, and before you know it, there's a bunch of it behind you.
After five releases in the first decade of P.G. Six, it may seem a bit
of a surprise to have not heard something new in the past twelve
years-but a cursory listen to Murmurs & Whispers will answer
why, as the deep acoustic focus of the tracks imply an investment
of the type of compassion and understanding that takes time and
concentrated effort to conjure.
Additionally, Pat Gubler's always got a few pots going at once
in his ever-expanding musical universe. He's been active since the
mid-90s, first with Memphis Luxure and Tower Recordings, then as
P.G. Six, and as a member of Metal Mountains, Wet Tuna, Garcia
Peoples and Weeping Bong Band. Additionally, some time was
spent making collaborative records with Dan Melchior (in 2019) and
Louise Bock (in 2021).
Pat's been playing the harp for more years than he's been in

bands, but when he realized that he was writing a set of songs cen-
tered around harp compositions, he spent some time in the woodshed

with his instrument, a late 80s model Triplett Celtic 34 String Harp

(which replaced a lovely Paraguayan harp he'd played for years previ-
ously). After the previous P.G. albums of electric band arrangements,

he was in a place of writing songs with more silence in them. He ended
up playing a lot of the parts himself on Murmurs & Whispers, adding
guitar, bass, keyboards, recorder and hurdy gurdy, in addition to his
harp and vocals. Clark Griffin and Wednesday Knudson, who Pat
plays with in Weeping Bong Band, played and sang a bit themselves,
and the record was recorded piece by piece in houses around upstate
New York by Mike Fellows.
Returning to the quiet acoustic sound of the first couple of P.G.
Six albums, Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites (which has seen a
much-needed reissue in the past year after too many years OOP) and
The Well of Memory, Murmurs & Whispers is more straightforward

in expressing its vision of rural celestial wonder. Bucolic and com-
fortably lived in, Murmurs & Whispers nonetheless projects

the transcendent heart of P.G. Six once again, and
as ever, it is magnificent to hear it passing
through us.

Vinyl release of P.G. Six - Murmurs & Whispers [lp]. Released through DRAG CITY and available on LP.