JUNE 29, 2009 -- PARK SLOPE: The punch and wash of drums something that makes us, as listeners and showgoers, feel safe. It may be their primal presentation, the beating and pounding that they take, that allows us to not even think twice and accept them as a part of the music, as the anchor that we rarely have to question with a "I'm not sure I get it..." Though it is hard to let that anchor lose, seeing the Four Bags made me crave more bands that feature the absence of drums. There was no lack of percussion, with slack picked up by each Bag throughout the course of the night, be it the oom-pah from Brian Drye's trombone, airy pulses from Jacob Garchik's accordion, staccato hits from Mike McGinnis' clarinet, or stabs from Sean Moran's guitar.
The Four Bags have been bagging for while together, almost ten years, and that experience has yielded a friendship, sense of humor, and arsenal of arrangements that makes a show simply enjoyable. Pieces never run longer than five minutes, and are often much shorter, ranging from original compositions, to arrangements of music from Brazil, Iran, France, and Mozart. The set played off as a mix-tape of sorts, since the arrangements were still were true to the music's different personal history and geographic origin, but still held consistencies draw from each player's style and the unique combination of these four instruments. The ear is not often subjected to four instruments, at relatively equal volumes, with such different sounds. It's a pretty rare and special feeling, and the Four Bags take advantage of the power of that sound, often passing a short melody repeatedly between instruments, providing for a freshness and simplicity all at once within the music. They don't play often enough, so see them when you can. In the meantime, they have a record aptly titled "Live at Barbes" which can get you close to the real thing, but there's nothing quite like hearing a trombone, accordion, guitar and clarinet reverberate in a small, boxy, drumless room.
