POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Four Postmen Really Add Up

There are actually five players in the absurdist folk-pop group the Four Postmen, though only three of them perform in postal uniforms. But clearly, inspired nonsense is more important than precise arithmetic to these crazed carriers. On Saturday night, their winning tunefulness and thoroughly tweaked comedy delighted the crowd at the Company of Angels Theatre.

The Postmen imaginatively recombine subdued garage riffs, Kingston Trio harmonies, Vonnegut-worthy premises and dada rhyme schemes into an effective skewering of pop conventions. And while pop tunes and punch lines sometimes make for a lame combo, the Four Postmen have the rare ability to evoke both heady laughter and honest musical pleasures.

The group--backed by bass and drums--sang achingly of the furry perils of “Rabbit Valley” and revealed the terror of the “Blood Suckin’ Postman” with rockabilly twang. The night’s most concise tune consisted of the lushly harmonized lines, ‘I asked you if you loved me / You said ‘Why?’ . . . Wrong answer.”

The Four Postmen humbly bill themselves as “The World’s Greatest Rock Group.” Within the confines of the bizarre little world they create on stage, the title holds up.

* The Four Postmen play every Friday and Saturday through Feb. 10 (except Jan. 26-27) at the Company of Angels Theatre, 2106 Hyperion Ave., 11 p.m. $6. (213) 666-6789.