Nova Karina Devonie
Thurs Sept 6 at Sit & Spin
This past Thursday, One-Night Stand was treated to some genuine weirdness at Sit & Spin. I went early to get some food; but my dining experience was ruined by a bustling, self-important camera crew. Indeed, the dining area of the club had been transformed into an on-location studio set. And not for anything exciting, just for some dumb TV show. There were very few seats in the place, because the crew had taken over the entire room.
I won’t go too deeply into the details of what I witnessed, except to tell you that a beefy frat-boy-looking dude and four buxom blond ladies were involved in some sort of amped-up Darwinian mate-selection process. I will also say that pretty people make very ugly losers, and they’re wildly entertaining to eavesdrop on when they do lose.
These jag-offs were unable to ruin my night completely, though. And I was happy to be almost saved by what I saw in the back room–the show I was there to see in the first place, performed by none other than an accordion lady! Her name is Nova Karina Devonie, and she was this night’s opening act for “Eclectica,” the weekly Sit & Spin event that features unique, off-kilter performers for an evening unlike any other in Seattle. It was obvious from the onset that Devonie fit the bill.
After opening with an instrumental piece, she introduced herself and her instrument to the curious audience. Devonie’s onstage presence was initially very compelling, by virtue of her being the only accordion lady I have ever seen do a solo show. She quoted someone who once said that the accordion is “an instrument in tune with the sentiments of an assassin.” She seemed pleased by the quote, so I got very excited to hear something deadly: Devonie sang a simple, staccato tune that included the lyrics “I could do away with you with one slash of my pen,” and “The thoughts I have regarding you do more harm than a gun.”
If Devonie was an assassin last Thursday night, she was a sly, cool one. Her facial expressions and delivery were deadpan, even when the songs were whimsical (and they often were–at times to the point of irritation). She worked a carnival-oddity aesthetic throughout the show (an effective way to present her uncommon compositions), and there was a palpable undercurrent of anger that I found engaging. But as a performer, Devonie seemed too detached to really hold my attention, and her overall appeal soon lost its novelty.
By the fourth song, my excitement about the show had diminished. I wasn’t entirely unimpressed: Devonie is an outstanding accordionist, and she definitely knows how to sing. But she became far too self-aware for my taste, with cute, rhyming couplets and excessively odd lyrics like “I have no use for your puerile, insipid daydreams.” The song was about a friend who had three long nose hairs he was happy with–and it got a laugh from a bunch of people, but none from me. I was thinking that Devonie’s voice sounded pretty (if a bit shrill), and that it all just seemed too detached and whimsied and self-indulgent for my taste.
I guess if the accordion is an instrument for murderers, then I want to see some real blood.