Bandits on the Run at Mercury Lounge

Bonanza Jellyfish & Roy Dodger

About five years ago, actor Adrian Enscoe was busking at a New York City subway station when fellow actor and cellist Sydney Shepherd stopped to listen to his music. This happenstance evolved into a romantic and musical relationship. Shepherd's college friend, musical collaborator, fellow actor, and multi-instrumentalist, Regina Strayhorn, later moved to New York and joined in the musical merrymaking. The trio became the Brooklyn-based Bandits on the Run, with the New York City subway system being the folk and pop band's initial main stage. Expanding on the bandits theme, each took on an alias, Enscoe as Roy Dodger, Shepherd as Bonanza Jellyfish, and Strayhorn as simply Clarissa. Since then, the trio has scored films, performed in countless music clubs, and recorded original songs. Bandits on the Run released a debut album, The Criminal Record, in 2017. A Live at the Power Station four-song EP was released on August 16, 2019.

Bandits on the Run returned to Mercury Lounge tonight and restaged the party atmosphere of the trio's free public performances. Each member took a foundation of folk and gave it a lively pop spin for a clean sound bristling with familiar retro roots. As the songs' arrangements dictated, Shepherd often bowed her cello, Enscoe played an acoustic guitar with his hands and a suitcase drum with his right foot, and Strayhorn played accordion and melodica. The three-part harmonies, forged in the hollow and echoing caverns of New York's underground, proved riveting. With no synthesizers or backing tracks to fill the sound, the songs sounded fresh, honest, and homey. Uncluttered transferences from verses to choruses allowed the listener to enjoy the beauty of each instrument, requiring little imagination to hear how the sweetness of a cello, the frenzy of an accordion, or the joy of galloping three-part harmonies brought a minimalist symphony of sound to the hearts and souls of the listeners. Here, three musicians made robust music that popped and swayed. It surely would make any routine commute a lot more enjoyable.