It’s high noon on the first day of New York City’s June heat wave—the temperature is up near 100 with a real-feel of approximately a billion.

Not exactly the perfect time to hoof around the East Village and try on leather.

But it’s the only time for Samantha Fish, who’s been crisscrossing the globe playing near-daily sets in support of her eighth solo album, the bluesy, biting Paper Doll, which hit in April. The singer-guitarist has a tight four-hour window to indulge in a little retail therapy before sound check for her gig at the legendary Iridium jazz club. So shopping through the sweat is going to have to be the way it gets done.

Fish leans into the chaos—it may be 96, but God bless, she still takes her coffee hot and black when we meet up on the Lower East Side at Essex Market. The New Orleans inhabitant is used to high humidity, though she admits to being worried about the longevity of her short, bouncy platinum curls and thick, black cat-eye liner. Her rock-meets-retro look, which fits in seamlessly with the Village natives, requires effort. An impressive amount on an oppressive day like this.