CICADA RHYTHM Acoustic jazz and roots music duo Cicada Rhythm had the perfect indie rom-com “cute meet.” Self-taught guitarist David Kirslis hopped off a freight train and needed a friend to pick him up. Classically trained upright bassist Andrea DeMarcus was a passenger in the car, and there she met her soot-begrimed future partner. It’s tempting to read too much in the melding of the train jumper and the Juilliard grad, with Kirslis bringing the stripped-down storytelling of an itinerant bluesman to the mix, complementing the experimental, jazzy swing of DeMarcus’ bowed bass. Regardless of how the influences of folk, jazz and blues intermingled, Cicada Rhythm craft an open-hearted, inventive blend of American musics in deceptively simple songs that are both haunting and playfully jaunty. The duo’s tight harmonies suggest Nashville duo The Civil Wars, if only The Civil Wars took anti-depressants. Rarely has a band’s name fit their music so well. Cicada Rhythm conjure up the Southern twilight when the buzz of insects washes in waves through the trees, and that eerie but comforting moment of stasis before the world transforms.

Pat Moran

Price: $8