With drummer Billy Conway still nursing injuries he

received when being struck by a snowmobile, the remaining members of Morphine

have been left to their own devices. And, no doubt happy about their recent

signing to the new super-label Dreamworks (in an unusual deal which will permit

them to finish the rest of their deal with the Salem, MA based Rykodisc) singer

and bassist Mark Sandman and baritone saxophonist Dana Colley felt like having

a party.

So they did. Under the moniker Hypnosonics, Sandman and Colley,

joined by other Boston area-musicians (including members of the jazz band The

Either Orchestra) played a heated night of music last Wed. (Mar. 27) to a rabid

crowd in the intimate confines of the Middle East's smaller room. With another

sax and trumpet to compliment Colley, a Bootsy Collins/Bill Laswell funkified

bassist (leaving Sandman free to play guitar) and a drummer who mimicked

Conway's minimalist style, Hypnosonics reveled in the same dark tones and

subject matter Morphine is so well known for, while at the same time exploring

sonic realms that the three-piece Morphine rarely delves into.

With three

sets to play with, Sandman led the band down expansive musical paths: with most

songs built around sketches, both melodically and vocally, the musicians were

free to explore basic structures laid out for them. That translated into

three-horn choruses that bled into screeching solos, lengthy, fuzz-bass

sections that were often drowned out by a frenzied audience, and echoey,

Western-style guitar that Sandman eschews in favor of his two-string bass when

Morphine proper plays.

While Hypnosonics steered clear of Morphine songs,

the tone remained as dark as ever; in one celebration of night-crawlers,

Sandman crooned into his fifties-style Sears mic, "Early to bed, early to rise

/ Makes a man, a woman / Miss out on the night life"; Like A Damn Fool

and Deep 6 were also indicative of the Jim Thompson-esque flavor that

infuses Sandman's compositions, while the instrumental Travolta's Walk

demonstrated the musical prowess of the collected musicians.

Sandman, with

his husky, come-hither voice, has found a great vehicle for his talents in

Morphine. Last week, a couple of hundred fans in Cambridge got to see what he

can do when given a little more room to play in.