Written for four drum kits, 4BY4 is an exciting reminder of the unique compositional possibilities available within a percussion ensemble. While each player is assigned a unique combination of instruments, the quartet is connected through the use of kick drums. The kick drums underpin this work's momentum, providing an uninterrupted heartbeat that shifts between the stability of a unison 'four-on-the-floor' beat and interlocking polymetric flutters of three-over-two or four-over-three. However, it is the intricate interplay found in the quartet's foreground material, dancing above the pulse of the kick drums, that makes 4BY4 such a challenging and entertaining work. Players are required to relay small rhythmic fragments between one another to construct characterful rhythmic phrases, while occasionally a single player is lifted out of the interlocking rhythmic bed with a slightly longer, more soloistic phrase. Elsewhere, the ensemble locks into groove-like figures overlaid with syncopated accents that seem to fill every rhythmic space with the tick of a hi-hat, the crack of a snare drum or the pop of a conga drum. Each player's sense of balance and feel will be finely honed as the ensemble must negotiate dense, simmering textures that rise in intense waves before breaking into new passages of rhythmic complexity.

Dr. Omar Carmenates, Assistant Professor of Percussion at Furman University, South Carolina, USA, who led the commissioning of 4BY4, writes:

I've admired Psathas' music for years, for its incredible sense of energy, its ability to defy categorization, and its cultural pluralism. With 4BY4, John delivers on all counts and then some. If Dave Weckl, Christopher Lamb, Steven Schick and Giovanni Hidalgo – all percussion virtuosi from widely different genres – were to have a jam session, I can't help but think that it would sound something like 4BY4. Psathas manages to take culturally different instruments, each with different playing techniques, and link them together with a common element – the kick drum. It is cultural pluralism at its best, with each voice maintaining its unique sound and identity, but seamlessly integrated into a common whole.

4BY4 was commissioned by a consortium of 14 organisations led by Omar Carmenates and the Furman University Percussion Ensemble along with: Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, University of Kentucky Percussion Ensemble, University of North Texas Percussion Ensemble, University of South Carolina Percussion Ensemble, University of Central Florida Percussion Ensemble, Clemson University Percussion Ensemble, Coastal Carolina University Percussion Ensemble, Tennessee Tech University Percussion Ensemble, University of Tennessee-Martin Percussion Ensemble, Winthrop University Percussion Ensemble, Truman State University Percussion Ensemble, Texas A&M University – Commerce Percussion Ensemble, and The nief-norf Project.