Elliott Sharp's Carbon played their first small band gig in at least five years as a midnight set during John Zorn's birthday month at Tonic, premiering Sharp's long-form piece Quarks Swim Free with Zeena Parkins, Sim Cain and Jim Pugliese.

Carbon has swollen from a fierce math-rock band to a fascinating math- classical ensemble over the years. This piece alternated between the ferocity of the earlier days and the more recent acoustic complexities. Parts pounded, but the more engaging elements featured Sharp switching between electric guitar and soprano sax and Parkins leaving her harp for a sadly undermiked piano. Percussionists Cain and Pugliese set strong rhythms, sometimes in driving unison, other times with Pugliese switching from tympani to xylophone. Sharp touched on overdrive, bluesy phrasings and string-grinding noise, but didn't write himself into the front of the piece or direct anyone else in the lead position either. Parkins' piano parts, when they could be heard, were the best elements in the piece: harmonious syncopations, almost mechanical and mirrored by percussion.

A Carbon reunion should have contained some fireballs. Unfortunately, this didn't. It was a thick and challenging slab of sound, but didn't quite deliver.