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The Six Parts Seven is an American post-rock band formerly based in Kent, Ohio. The band was founded in 1995 by brothers Allen and Jay Karpinski (playing guitar and drums, respectively), who had earlier played with Old Hearts Club, a band of similar style (but with vocals). In 1998, Tim Gerak was added to the core member line-up, playing guitar and also credited with additional engineering on the band's later recordings.
Most of the group's music is instrumental, featuring multiple "clean" (undistorted) electric guitars, with electric bass and drums, as well as electric lap steel guitar, viola, and occasionally also piano, vibraphone, or trumpet. Rather than relying primarily on strummed chords, songs are generally built by combining single-note melodic lines. Most songs are slow, subdued, and introspective, calling to mind the sound of similarly restrained groups such as Bedhead, Low, and American Football, as well as Louisville groups such as Slint and Rodan. Songs are often long (over five minutes), featuring much repetition and little contrast, creating a meditative atmosphere. Though the drumming of Jay Karpinski is often syncopated and jazzy, the group favors duple meter as opposed to the more complex meters favored by math rock bands. The Six Parts Seven's precise, intricate pattern-based sound also calls to mind the work of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp as well as minimalist composers such as Steve Reich. More recent performances of certain songs have featured Allen playing a four-string Fender Jazz Bass strung with normal electric guitar strings in place of his usual guitar set-up; and this appeared on their latest studio album, entitled Casually Smashed to Pieces, and was credited as "mid-range bass".
The band has been through a plethora of line-up changes, and minor positions in the band have proved to be a revolving chair, while retaining the core force of the Karpinski brothers and Tim Gerak. Former vibraphonist Eric Koltnow left the band after the Everywhere and Right Here era, as well as former lap steel player Ben Vaughan (formerly of the Dirty Lords, Tusco Terror, and Silent Command) after becoming a father. Minor positions, such as the newly added trumpet (Keith Freund from Trouble Books), have been filled by members of other bands from the Akron, Ohio area.
The Six Parts Seven's name is apparently based on a literary reference, quite possibly from the Howard Zinn book A People's History of the United States. The quote is from Virginia Governor William Berkeley in 1676: "How miserable that man is that governs a people where six parts of seven at least are poor, endebted, discanted and armed." A recent interview with another band member claims the name derives from a childhood game between brothers Jay and Allen Karpinski.[1] Although its name is similar, The Six Parts Seven should not be confused with the British band Six by Seven.
The group has toured the United States several times and performed in March 2006 at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Since the early 21st century its music has been used frequently by National Public Radio's All Things Considered news program as between-segment music.[2] Group leader Allen Karpinski was interviewed about the group's music on the same program in September 2004.[3]
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