Maintaining a large band is a daunting proposition, yet MarchFourth has kept their 20ish-piece ensemble on the road for 13 years and counting on the strength of their dynamic and circus-esque live show—recording their previous three albums in sporadic bursts during their brief moments of downtime, mostly at home in Portland, Ore. Choosing to mix things up for their fourth effort, the band carved 10 days out of their schedule to spend at The Parlor Recording Studio in New Orleans with Galactic’s Ben Ellman at the helm. Accordingly, this is a tighter and more cohesive collection of tunes than their prior freewheeling and diverse recorded output. The sounds of New Orleans permeate through all the songs, especially on the Stanton Moore-assisted “Push It Back” (co-produced by engineer Mikael “Count” Eldridge), and the compact arrangements leave plenty of space for all the instruments to breathe and for the players to express their personalities. It’s not all second lines and off-the-one funk though, as the band gets their Dirty South on with “Hotstepper,” and both the title track and “Drunk Bears” harken back to the “Marching Band” days, the former featuring uncharacteristically prominent vocals. Unlike other releases, Magic Number doesn’t quite capture the controlled chaos of M4’s live presentation, but that’s one of this album’s biggest strengths. Instead of attempting to channel alien transmissions through 15 instruments—which works much better when accompanied by a troupe of dancers and stilt-walkers—the band’s narrow focus results in a solid funk record.