I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 4, 2019] Cicada Rhythm 

The last time we saw Kishi Bashi at Union Transfer, his opening act was Twain.  We hated Twain.  Probably more in retrospect now that we’ve joked about him so often.  But Kishi Bashi talked about how much he loved Twain.  So we were a little concerned about who might be opening for this tour.

The band proved to be a duo called Cicada Rhythm.

They were a delightful couple, recently married.  Andrea DeMarcus plays upright bass (she is Julliard-trained) and and Dave Kirslis plays guitar (electric and acoustic).

They were sweet and adorable and very very sincere.

Dave had been playing guitar in Kishi’s band for this tour, so he invited Dave’s band to open for a few dates (and have Andrea play bass on a couple Kishi songs too).

They played a half a dozen or so songs.

In the two shot picture above you can see a glowing item between them.  It was a gorgeous bottle of amber liquid.  After a couple of songs, Dave told us that he was a beekeeper and that they were auctioning off this bottle of honey.  He raised the bees and the bottle that it was in was a bottle of Patrón that Kishi Bashi had drunk from.  K. is now sober, so this is the last of the bottles for him.  What a wonderful souvenir.  At last count the auction was up to $80.  And the money was going to a beekeeping collective or farm or something (I can’t recall).

While the upright bass isn’t the lead instrument, it’s amazing having one up front and so prominent.  I really couldn’t take my eyes off of her playing.  Most of Dave’s guitar work was strumming, so it felt like Andrea kept the song moving.   Although for a few songs, like “In the Garden,” he played some lovely leads (and had bells on his foot for percussion).

Andrea sang lead on most songs, although Dave sang lead on this rowdy song about their dog called “Dirty Hound.”  I have to admit I didn’t really like either of their voices.  But I did enjoy the music they made.

On some songs, like“Everywhere I Go,” she plucked the bass.   On others, like “Geronimo,” she bowed and plucked alternately (and achieved such a rich deep sound).

Andrea also told us that she has a side business (nobody buys music anymore).  She makes jewelry, like the item she was wearing (which you can kind of see in the picture above).  Her line is called Rigid Ceramics and I  thought they were pretty cool.