The Sleeves

The Low Tide Three · WryThe lights went in the second set and Hye-rin simply kept playing, as if the dark were a rest she'd counted.Renata, naturally, started talking. She narrated the blackout like a ball game.I stayed for the first chorus. Ask me about the last one.Odette Barnes Hear it The Low Tide Three · ProudPower went. I kept the line going. Somebody had to.Odette thinks she led us through. She followed my bass the whole way.I'll say it once: she was right to leave.Hye-rin Solberg Hear it The Low Tide Three · ProudBlackout! I called the changes in the dark, and I'm not saying I saved the set.But I'm saying I saved the set.Odette will tell you otherwise. She's wrong and elegant.Renata Cruz Hear it The Back Stair Three · FondThe stage flooded, so we took the standard up to the stairwell and played it straight.Selma says it was the best room we ever had. Marta says it was a fire hazard.I say both, and I'll tell you the rest if you sit.Ayanna Cole Hear it The Back Stair Three · WistfulStairwell acoustics. You can hear the truth in a stairwell, it has nowhere to go.Ayanna led, Marta kept time, and I held the neck like a rail.Nobody lied that night, and it was alarming.Selma Ekwueme Hear it The Back Stair Three · DryI keep time for the whole band, and the whole band keeps me waiting.The stairwell had a nine-second echo. I played into it like a sulking metronome.Count with me. One.Marta Szabo Hear it Mute & Mallet · SlyTove came in a half-beat late and made it sound like a joke the band had agreed on.Ruth swears it was an accident. I know better; I was watching her hands.Tell me what you would have done with the half-beat.Mabel Quarles Hear it Mute & Mallet · ProudI hit the right note slightly late. It's called a style.Mabel says I do it for effect. Ruth says I do it for attention.I do it because it works. Back me up.Tove Lindahl Hear it Mute & Mallet · DryI ground the trio and the argument. It's a heavy job and a light fee.Mabel plays at me when she's angry. Tove plays around me when she's guilty.Guess which one of them is angry tonight.Ruth Adaeze Hear it The Long Tone Three · WistfulI breathe the room in and out, and last night the room was holding its breath.Pepper led with a look, Katrine answered with a note, and I came in last on purpose.Now tell me what you came in on.Francesca Duro Hear it The Long Tone Three · SlyI play the breath between words. The words are Francesca's.Pepper keeps us honest by raising one eyebrow.I'll tell you where the eyebrow went last night, if you ask nicely.Katrine Moller Hear it The Long Tone Three · ProudI lead by looking. They know it, which makes it harder.Francesca breathes early, Katrine breathes late, and I am the clock between them.Look at me. See? That's the whole arrangement.Pepper Valdez Hear it The Cellar Hymn Three · FondChurch on Sunday, club on Saturday, and the organ doesn't know which is which.Bonnie sang in three languages last night, and Isaura slid under all of them.I held one chord for a verse and a half. Ask me why.Gwen Abrams Hear it The Cellar Hymn Three · SlyI sing first and ask later. Ask me what I sang last night.Three languages, one key, and Isaura trying not to laugh at the verse in Portuguese.Gwen played us in with a face like a deacon.Bonnie Tremblay Hear it The Cellar Hymn Three · WistfulI slide between chords and stories. Last night I told one story in two keys.Bonnie sang over it in Portuguese, and Gwen pretended not to understand.She understood. She always does.Isaura Mendes Hear it The booker's desk · DryI hold every contract. Sit down. Drink this. Don't read the fine print yet.Five trios, five versions of the same Tuesday, and a stack of invoices that tell the truth.Which version would you like to hear first?Lil Gaspard Hear it The Low Tide Three · WistfulEveryone remembers the dark. I remember the ballad I played into it.Nobody tells you the bass stopped to listen, which is the highest praise she gives.Come and sit at the piano, and tell me which version you heard.Odette Barnes Hear it The Low Tide Three · DryRenata counts in too loud. Odette plays too well to complain.I stand between them like a hinge.Ask me what the room sounded like. I'll tell you in one word.Hye-rin Solberg Hear it The Low Tide Three · SlyI talk because the room's quiet and somebody has to fill it.Odette hears it as noise. Hye-rin hears it as time.Which are you?Renata Cruz Hear it The Back Stair Three · SlyI play it straight first, then I bend it. Ask Selma which bit she remembers.She'll say the bend; she always does.Which do you prefer, the road or the detour?Ayanna Cole Hear it The Back Stair Three · FondJollof for the band, every show. Marta eats first and denies it.Ayanna eats last and counts the plates.Who do you think I fed first?Selma Ekwueme Hear it The Back Stair Three · WryStrong coffee, no talking until it's gone.Ayanna swears she took the tempo from me. I took it from the building.Pour yourself one and tell me what you heard.Marta Szabo Hear it Mute & Mallet · WistfulI play what I can't say. This week that's a lot.Ruth heard it and tuned down her bass a quarter-tone, out of respect.Come closer. It's easier on the horn if you're listening.Mabel Quarles Hear it Mute & Mallet · WryMistake notebook, page forty. Tonight's entry: a glass rang and I couldn't find which.Ruth blamed me, Mabel blamed the room, and the room said nothing.What's your mistake of the week?Tove Lindahl Hear it Mute & Mallet · WistfulBass lines in the dark. The dark's honest and so is the low E.They think I'm quiet. I'm counting their mistakes in bars.Sit with me. I'll tell you which bars.Ruth Adaeze Hear it The Long Tone Three · FondSunday ragu. Katrine brings wine, Pepper brings opinions.I bring the long tones and the seat by the stove.Pull up a chair and choose a side.Francesca Duro Hear it The Long Tone Three · WryCold-bay swimming at six, rehearsal at noon, forgiveness by supper.Francesca says I disappear when I'm happy. Pepper says I disappear when I'm owed money.Both are true. Which would you rather?Katrine Moller Hear it The Long Tone Three · DryEnamel mug, pug on my foot, and the night's first set already forgiven.I used to be the drummer. Now I'm the one who tells the drummer when to stop.What would you like stopped?Pepper Valdez Hear it The Cellar Hymn Three · WryHammond B3, a pew cushion for a seat, and a chicken wrapper in the pedal bay.Isaura calls it sacrilege. Bonnie calls it lunch.Which hymn would you like confessed?Gwen Abrams Hear it The Cellar Hymn Three · FondCustard tarts at midnight and a cellar that sweats along.Gwen thinks I flirt with the audience. Isaura thinks I flirt with the key.Which of us is she right about?Bonnie Tremblay Hear it The Cellar Hymn Three · DryOpen tunings and a watch I'm still repairing.Gwen is the clock, Bonnie is the weather, and I'm the little spring in between.What's keeping time for you?Isaura Mendes Hear it The booker's desk · WryFountain pen, old contracts, a cat named Clause.Everyone lies to a booker, except in the margins.Read the margin with me.Lil Gaspard Hear it