P.G. Six

P.G. Six serves as the solo alias for New York-based multi-instrumentalist and singer Pat Gubler, whose extensive résumé also encompasses work with Tower Recordings, Metal Mountains, Wet Tuna, and Garcia Peoples. Under this name, Gubler weaves British and American folk traditions together with strands of experimental indie rock, lo-fi textures, and improvisational passages. His first outing arrived as the 2001 release Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites; over the ensuing decade he issued a series of well-received P.G. Six records that concluded with the 2011 album Starry Mind. After concentrating on other endeavors for an extended period, he returned to the project in 2023 with the pastoral sixth album Murmurs and Whispers.

During the 1990s Gubler first attracted notice through the lo-fi experimental outfit Memphis Luxe, which later evolved into the expansive psych-folk ensemble Tower Recordings. Near the start of the following decade he began committing initial ideas to tape under the P.G. Six banner, material that surfaced in 2001 as Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites. His songwriting drew from the late-1960s and early-1970s British folk-rock lineage of Bert Jansch and the Incredible String Band while incorporating an American indie sensibility expressed through distorted guitars and a hissy lo-fi atmosphere. Early listeners embraced the record, prompting Gubler to assemble a comparably exploratory body of work across boutique imprints such as Amish and Perhaps Transparent Records. A characteristic P.G. Six set might range from Celtic harp and flute passages to abrasive drones and Sun Ra-style improvisation. In 2007 he moved to Drag City for the appealing Slightly Sorry, then took four years before unveiling the wide-ranging full-band statement Starry Mind in 2011.

Once that record appeared, activity under the P.G. Six heading entered a long pause while Gubler devoted energy to numerous parallel pursuits. He joined forces with Debby Schwarz, Samara Lubelski, and Sharron Kraus, and he inaugurated the newer outfits Metal Mountains and Wet Tuna. Toward the close of the 2010s he became a member of the indie rock and neo-jam group Garcia Peoples, spending the early 2020s on the road and in the studio as their keyboardist. In 2023 he resurfaced as P.G. Six with a fresh Drag City release whose pastoral harp arrangements and delicate guitar work recalled the project’s initial phase yet conveyed an added measure of serenity.