Somewhere in the Wind by Loren Connors and David Grubbs
Two titans of modern experimental electric guitar meet together to create a sombre soundtrack for
whoever wants to participate in this journey of discovery.
A lo-fi straight towards the listener sound helps to accommodate the atmosphere of some form of
dramatic intimacy that this piece creates.
Two different guitarists and two different approaches that stem from different musical and cultural
backgrounds. David Grubbs, who we knw from Bastro, Gastr del Sol and many other projects. And
Loren Connors who is a man with just impossible input into modern guitar experimentation.
Lyrical aspect of this music cannot be underestimated – it swings you into the vine of ever expanding
verse and collage. Sometimes soft and quiet, sometimes attacking like a thunderstorm clouds.
A beautiful album with powerful energy – something that I feel we will long remember even though
they will probably set up the standards higher and higher.
A note from David...
Somewhere in the Wind is the third record that Loren Connors and I have made together. Of the
three, it’s the first that consists exclusively of electric guitar duos and it’s the first that was recorded
live. To me it feels very much like a live record; this music happened in crowded rooms in Brooklyn
on two dates in 2025 and there’s an urgency to connect with others and a pleasure in doing so that
can be heard on both of these tracks. On the first of our duo records (Arborvitae, 2003) I primarily
play piano, and on the second (Evening Air, 2024) we switch off on piano and guitar. Both of those
albums bespeak the privacy of the recording studio, where time is suspended and one can explore
the quietest of sounds. By contrast, Somewhere in the Wind is the noisiest, most raucous and most
free of our duo records. It’s the sound of us taking it to the stage.
I became a fan of Loren’s playing from the moment that I first heard it, after happening upon a beat-
up copy of In Pittsburgh circa 1992 in a used bin in the Dr. Wax record store in Chicago where my
then-bandmate Bundy K. Brown worked. Everyone has taken a chance on a record because it looked
interesting and wouldn’t set you back too much. In that regard In Pittsburgh was the find of a
lifetime. I had just switched from playing in a postpunk power trio (Bastro) to making mostly
drummerless respect-your-neighbors music (Gastr del Sol), and Loren’s pacing and touch and his
lovely, unaffected compositions had me from the first listen. Not long after that, Jim O’Rourke and I
reissued In Pittsburgh on our Dexter’s Cigar label, and I fondly remember first meeting Loren in New
York’s Grand Central Station—so glamorous for this country mouse—and taking the train upstate
with him where he shared a bill with Gastr del Sol. During soundcheck, Jim, Loren, and I played
together for a bit and Loren’s approach to the instrument was something that one could instantly
sink into, the kind of situation where there are no mistakes. I still feel that when we play together.
credits
releases July 31, 2026
“Somewhere in the Wind” recorded live at Blank Forms, Brooklyn, NY on July 11, 2025, and “A Spring
Was Pressed” recorded live at Public Records, Brooklyn, NY on January 4, 2025.
Thanks to Suzanne Langille, Lawrence English, Lawrence Kumpf, and everyone at Blank Forms.
Cover: Loren Connors, “Somewhere in the Wind” (2025).
All music by Connors and Grubbs, published by Gastr Virgo Music (BMI),
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