Les Claypool`s Duo de Twang- Four Foot Shack (2014)

Les Claypool`s Duo de Twang- Four Foot Shack (2014)

There is the legend that Primus bass genius Les Claypool experimented quite an epiphany while vacationing with his son in the wilderness, you know, the pair headed to the mountain near the lakes for a camping and fishing dad and son experience, accompanied by Les acoustic bass and his sons banjo, which brought Les closer to the very soul of a primitive, wood sounding adventure into the roots of north American hillbilly music, lead mainly by Claypool twangy bass and a guitar played by Les friend Bryan Kehoe who has succeeded in marrying Claypool flirtations with both hillbilly music and the appreciation for free spirit gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt which definitely makes this Four Foot Shack a powerful wandering into Claypool bizarre musical universe.

Opener Four Foot Shack is a The Residents like musical tale that exhibits Claypool nasal whine, while it introduces to some familiar sounding songs, as Wynonas Big Brown Beaver is recreated here in an acoustic manner, played only by Claypool acoustic bass and Kehoe acoustic guitar, conjugating a sound that doesn’t lacks the intensity of the original version, and adds that ultra-percussive characteristic sounds of both instruments, and when Kehoe starts soloing, the strings vibrate close to the roots of the mighty wild sounds from the north American mountains.

Then comes Amos Moses a tune lift form Jerry Reed, a country musician, previously covered by Primus, a powerful song that brings together the sounds of funk, country and sounds from the swampy south, which both musicians use to their favor hitting hard the stings and rolling all along the swinging rhythm, Red State Girl is a Claypool original which manages to keep the primitive sound, but at the same time benefited from Claypool perverse delivery and an execution that doesn’t suffer from the lack of electricity, right before tackling another cover, this time The Bridge Came Tumbling Down, a country standard by Stompin Tom Connors full of slide guitar to send chills down the spine of the listener, that along with the bass heavy Boonville Stomp, once again an instrument for Claypool bass wizardry and Kehoe rusty and vibrating strings.

But obviously one of the central pieces on this Four Foot Shack is Stayin Alive, yes, the Bee Gees tune, here taken right to the woods with an insane urge and a furious delivery that obviously demands appreciation for Claypool and Kehoe arranging genius, as the string recreate fully every motif, every small arrangement in the original tune and detaches it completely form its disco context creating a completely new monsters that rolls down the fingers of this two crazy twangy maniacs, the same who latter tackle surf classic Pipe Line in a really faithful manner with additional drunken choruses that turn the song into an unexpected cheap bar epic sing along.

Without a doubt the pair delivers song by song with the right dose of genius and charisma, never falling into the instrumental masturbation, yes, both players shine on each tune, but they know the exact dose of musical input to add and not be superfluous or saturate the mix with the sound of their instruments, showing an unusual ability to extracting exciting sounds form the strings without the benefit of electricity, studio magic or effects pedal, as if that wasn’t enough, again, they bring pure genius to the table, just give a listen to their hyper hilarious version of Alice in Chains (with whom they once played the Lollapalooza tour) classic Man In The Box, with a great vocal delivery by Claypool who shows that he is not only a great musical arranger, but also a great vocalist who knows how to use his voice to add even more power to his or others themes.

Four Foot Shack is a risky project, obviously not made to mass consumption,(but is Primus made for mass consumption) even the lack of distortion or volume may put off certain Primus fans, but the genius and the weirdness are here in fully display making this a great and enjoyable record from start to finish.