P.G. Six - Murmurs and Whispers

Back from the silence is P.G. Six, with their first proper album since 2011’s Starry Mind. Introducing Murmurs and Whispers. 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 Pat Gubler has been keeping busy as ever in his 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 in recent years.

 After the previous P.G. albums of electric band arrangements, Pat found himself in a familiar place of quiet and solitude. He took on a lot of ‘Murmurs & Whispers’ himself, adding guitar, bass, keyboards, recorder and hurdy gurdy, in addition to harp and vocals. Clark Griffin and Wednesday Knudson, whom 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 with Mike "The Mighty Flashlight" Fellows acting as producer.

On the first single, ‘I Have Known Love’, Pat's years of playing the harp (more of them than years he's been in bands) pay off, as he plays his Triplett Celtic model with pristine fingerwork and heavy soul. Evoking worlds, generations and future waves radiated from the folk tradition, Murmurs & Whispers finds P.G. at an apex of his special talent for earthly sounds with transcendent aspirations.

 Returning to the deep acoustic focus of the first couple of P.G. Six albums, Murmurs and Whispers is more straightforward in expressing its vision of rural celestial wonder. Bucolic and comfortably lived in, Murmurs and Whispers nonetheless projects the transcendent heart of P.G. Six once again, and as ever, it is magnificent to hear it passing through us.