David Grubbs Shares Single "Queen's Side Eye"

Hear that sound? It’s a Whistle from Above (Drag City), David Grubbs’ new album coming out next month! Yes! After sharing the lead single/video for “The Snake on Its Tail” this past December, Grubbs has a new song for us today: “Queen’s Side Eye”.

Opening with warm, folky arpeggiation, David swiftly introduces edits and variations into “Queen’s Side Eye” — he’s hardly done pursuing them down each path before turning and chasing after another set. It’s a taut, intensively scaled guitar piece with Grubbsian, serpentine changes unfurled in a measured, lucid abstraction. As open spaces are found, they’re soon filled with judicious ambiance from Cleek Schrey’s ten-string fiddle and Nate Wooley’s trumpet.

After a deep dive into Gastr del Sol’s duo magic that facilitated last year’s compilation box, David opened his deeply personal solo pieces for engaging conversational gambits with some modern masters — Rhodri Davies, Andrea Belfi, Nikos Veliotis, Nate Wooley, and Cleek Schrey — to create Whistle from Above. Hear David’s marvelous, ever-shifting sonic still life on February 28, 2025.