Whistle from Above, out February 28th, is David Grubbs’ first Drag City release in over a decade and his first-ever instrumental album for the label — and why shouldn’t it be? The suspiciously youthful Grubbs is now four decades into his career, with former bands including Gastr del Sol, Squirrel Bait and Bastro, along with a wild ride of collaborators over the years — lately, Tony Conrad, Taku Unami, Jan St. Werner, and Wendy Eisenberg. The list grows each year! If all that doesn’t imply “Trying something different,” what ever will?

We’ve got another first, too… YES! David’s never released a music video, but he went big for Whistle from Above’s lead single, “The Snake on Its Tail”, enlisting the help of renowned multimedia art duo Jennifer & Kevin McCoy (who did up the album art, too). The video’s chilly landscapes match the brooding, lone filament of David’s guitar tone; he uncoils with hypnotic deep focus on “The Snake on Its Tail”, building tension in layers of repetition augmented by Andrea Belfi’s rumbling drumrolls. Then, as multiple planes of guitar and drums lift and blister into overdrive, Nate Wooley’s trumpet casts abiding rays over the tumult before itself splintering in the final action.

Whistle from Above is the first solo collection David’s released since 2017’s Creep Mission. During the 2020 shutdown, David played what he precisely quantified as “a shit-ton of guitar,” more than he could recall playing ever previously. He was also busy reconnecting with the Gastr del Sol archive, working once more with Jim O’Rourke to prepare a new collection of their old performances: 2024’s critically-lauded We Have Dozens of Titles. Reinvigorated by this period of enforced woodshedding and the duo magic of his old band, David saw the path forward to produce a series of new pieces — mostly for guitar, but also a piano composition and an exceptionally eerie bit of musique concrète. Thus, he sought out collaborations with folks he’s called “some of the musicians whom I adore most on the planet”: Rhodri Davies, Andrea Belfi, Nikos Veliotis, Nate Wooley and Cleek Schrey, all whose stunning contributions flesh out Grubbs’ innate, deeply personal brand of minimalism.

Whistle from Above is a colorful, compulsive set of instrumental pieces in which David Grubbs and his chosen collaborators interact, all based in the hypnosis of his immediately recognisable guitar style. Following the album’s February 28th release, David will perform select solo shows across North America, including a set at Big Ears Festival.