REVIEW: Friend Roulette - The Matt Sheffer Songbook, Vol. 1

Laura Kerry

Friend Roulette has always had a knack for playfulness and unpredictability. It’s embedded in the latter half of their name, that spinning wheel that determines a gambler’s fate. In their first few albums and EPs, the six members of the band played roulette with their orchestral pop sound, landing in wildly different spaces—from frenetic dissonance to warm dreaminess. 

In their new EP, The Matt Sheffer Songbook, Vol. 1, Friend Roulette plays a different trick: All the songs were written by someone else. The album comes from Matt Sheffer, an artist and friend of the band from Houston, Texas, who had a habit of creating songs then throwing them out them after. Affirming their pal’s brilliance, Friend Roulette picked up the scrapped material. 

In the resulting album, playfulness also comes in the form of fantasy. Lush with sultry guitar tones, evocative strings, jazzy horns, and lead singer Julia Tepper’s expressive voice, The Matt Sheffer Songbook feels cinematic. Still covering the wide range expected from their show of instruments, Friend Roulette remains largely in a softer, more romantic territory than in their previous works. “You’re A Fox” begins the album in a slow and reflective daze of guitar arpeggios, low, breathy horns, and a quiet chorus of nervous strings; “Snow Pea” floats through spacey, jazz-inflected verses and a lofty and theatrical chorus; in “Joan,” Tepper sings a baroque melody over quiet organ and clean guitar chords; “Bacon and Raisins” offers a bossa nova groove that transforms into a movie soundtrack; and “Viva Zyprexa” drifts through echoey melodies. 

Even more fantastical than the sounds in The Matt Sheffer Songbook are the stories and images that animate it. In “Snow Pea,” we follow a tale of what appears to be a legume that comes alive and flutters away. “Why are my feet in the clouds?” the singer narrates, “I look back down to see a sea of grass surrounding me.” “Joan” begins, “I had a vision of Joan Leslie in an evening gown / She sang the sweetest song, something about reaching the sky,” then proceeds to a dreamy and sad tale about the Hollywood Golden Age actress who died in 2015. “Bacon and Raisins” narrates an epic and heroic tale about a battle with a spider (it seems that the spider wins), and “Viva Zyprexa,” a song about antipsychotic medication, is set in a world in which “a bathtub on the ceiling drains to the sky.” 

Like any world of fantasy, The Matt Sheffer Songbook requires some suspension of disbelief; in order to get into it, you have to commit to a full immersion. As with the spinning wheel that comprises half their name, though, the rewards for playing are enticing.

FIELD REPORT: Friend Roulette // Altopalo // Whitewash // Human People // Old English System

All Photos: Will Roane

Gerard Marcus

On August 31st, I had the chance to catch five awesome sets at Trans-Pecos for the second-to-last day of the Summer's End Festival. Because there are so damn many great bands to get through, we'll cut right to the chase.

Old English System

To Old English System, I have to offer my sincerest apologies that I was only able to catch your last song. Truly. Because I really enjoyed what little I heard and wished I had experienced more.

Human People

Human People had all the charms you would want from an all-girl post-punk garage-rock band, and their performance was endearingly approachable. Even with a couple minor technical difficulties, they barely missed one angst-riddled beat.

What I really loved about them was how comfortable they seemed. It was as if they had just been outside drinking a beer when someone walked by and said, "Hey guys, you're supposed to be playing a rock show right now," and they shrugged and wandered in. It made for a really disarming atmosphere.

They're still a young group, but if they keep at it I see them doing some pretty great things. Especially the lead singer, Hayley, who had a great vocal style.

Whitewash

Our local homies Whitewash have been friends of the blog for a while now, and I've seen them live on a number of occasions without ever being disappointed. These guys just vibe well together. They've been playing a lot this summer in particular, and their sound has definitely gotten a lot tighter.

Whitewash have come a long way in the last year, and I hope their recent signing to Tree Machine Records will only fuel that momentum. They're playing a couple more shows in New York over the next few weeks, so make sure to check them out.

Altopalo

Altopalo have been absolutely on fire recently, and my mind is still a bit numb from processing the level of musicianship they have. Even with pretty much no vocals and the constant threat of a bass drum tipping over, these guys still managed to put on one of the best shows I've seen all year.

Their sound is just such a beautiful mix of electronic, jazz, soul, and rock. I truly don't know how they pull it off so well. Oh, and Mike Haldeman on guitar. I can't even.

Friend Roulette

Friend Roulette have been on my list of must-see bands for a while now, so I was very excited to see them (and can now say that I super excited to see them again). Such an originally interesting mix of chill, twisted, and danceable sounds that translate surprisingly well to a live performance. I could have listened to a set twice as long as the one they played and still would have asked for more.

The version of Friend Roulette I got to experience wasn't the full roster, but they still know how to rock out. They also made for a really nice complement to Altopalo, and the two bands should absolutely play together again.

REVIEW: Friend Roulette: I See You. Your Eyes Are Red.

Laura Kerry

Dissonance is usually the site of stone-faced experimentation, where the only smiles arise from the satisfaction of feeling how far disharmony can twist the knife. Dissonance has a wicked sense of humor.

With its strange intervals and sometime-strange combinations of more than eight instruments among six members, Friend Roulette is definitely a little wicked. The band’s new LP, I See You. Your Eyes Are Red., sends us on a wild ride, alternating between sparse, pretty compositions and layered orchestral explosions. This often prevents the listener from guessing at or understanding the trajectory of each song, but that only makes the experience more engaging. By eluding traditional form, artist comparisons, and most expectations of build-up and resolution, the album forces us to hang on for dear life. Playful and dramatic, Friend Roulette’s breed of dissonance is akin to the moment when a knife comes around the corner in a horror film.

The film comparison doesn’t stop there. The suspenseful and surprising music on I See You. Your Eyes Are Red. adheres to the form of movie scores as much as it does pop songs. Each track feels like its own narrative, unified by tone and story but following the twists and turns of a plot whose structure is obscured. Without warning, the gentle male/female harmony and wind instruments of “Up in the Air” combust into a funky chorus of horn sections and ominous synths; “Warm Year” fades from a pop chorus to an instrumental bridge with minor strings; and, as if quoting cinematic source music, “You Drank All the Eggnog” breaks into a few moments of the holiday classic, “Sleigh Ride.”

The lyrical narratives feel cinematic, too, with the vivid imagery of the drug overdose in “Stoned Alone,” couched in an upbeat psychedelic tune, or the sad, yuletide scene on display in “You Drank All the Eggnog.” Even though the songs are sometimes atonal and often unpredictable, Friend Roulette’s movie-style narratives draw us in until we’re fully hooked.

More than the dissonance or the drama, though, it’s the restraint that captivates on I See You. Your Eyes Are Red. For a six-member band, especially one with two percussion players, the album is precise and deliberate. Julia Tepper’s clear voice shines when it needs to and fades when it doesn’t, and the instruments, including the under-appreciated EWI (electronic wind instrument), play off of each other in creative and varying blends that are intelligent without being stiff. By returning to focus on orchestral arrangement, Friend Roulette has created something that feels fresh.

But all of that might invest too much seriousness in a band whose main press photo features gummy worms spilling from its members’ mouths. These are friends from Brooklyn enjoying playing together, and that reflects in their music. In listening to I See You. Your Eyes Are Red., you get the sense that there’s even more to gain from seeing the band live. In person, you can witness what’s hinted at on the album: the wicked smiles that come from having fun, or, perhaps, that subtle twist of the knife.