Flirtation

continued

While Serrapere and the fellas set up, she small-talks us, smiling in a beguiling way. On her left, Jef Reynolds handles the upright bass. Drummer Stuart Tucker waits patiently in the back. To her right, tall, lanky John Devine fidgets about with the strings and doodads on his electric guitar. "We're gonna start out with a little flirtation," she smirks.

Devine is still rustling about when Serrapere starts. "You like to come around me / and you like to buzz around me and / you like to circle me," she sings, fingerpicking her acoustic. At the last possible moment, Devine stops worrying his equipment and comes in with treated guitar licks. I can't tell whether they've planned it that way or not, but I like it. It feels a bit like flirting, actually.