David Grubbs will perform live at World of Echo on Saturday March 22nd. Entry will be privileged to those who order the record.
Latest solo outing of typically classy, mostly guitar-based impressions and invocations from ever-inspired polymath, David Grubbs. A new record with Grubbs' name assigned to it has become as common as the change in season, and if the frequency of their occurrence has become reliable, then they've also maintained a consistent sense of intrigue and surprise. There can be no doubt - Whistle From Above is undeniably another David Grubbs record, but it also arrives with a new set of contexts. In the first instance, it follows the release of last year's revelatory Gastr del Sol boxset, an event that provided both band members and their audience alike equal opportunity to re-evaluate the legacy of one of the more beguiling acts of their era. The press release describes that archival deep-dive as an inspiring exercise for Grubbs, precipitating a flurry of creative enterprise that resulted in connections and collaborations with Rhodri Davies, Andrea Belfi, Nikos Veliotis, Nate Wooley, and Cleek Schrey. The results are as inventive and engaging as you'd hope, Grubbs' guitar playing so effortlessly probing you'd be surprised to see the man ever set it down. In classic Chicago fashion, each of the eight pieces are adorned with subtle interjections of woodwind, piano, wheezing electronics and concréte inflections, three decades on still inferring the post in post-rock. And it's to that point Whistle From Above finds new contextual significance - 'post-rock', in the way it was defined around the activity of Grubb and his co-horts in the early 90s is undergoing a reimagining of sorts, be that through the work of Able Noise, Blue Lake or even claire rousay. Great as they all inarguably are, the return of a master should not be overlooked. Grubbs remains both prolific and inspired. Take it as a gift, not for granted.
