The Six Parts Seven

The Six Parts Seven
The Six Parts Seven performing live in 2006.
Background information
Origin	Kent, Ohio, USA
Genres	Post-rock
Years active	1995–2008 (Hiatus)
Labels	Suicide Squeeze, various

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".