Shep Treasure – Blanket
The Rochester music scene has a knack for producing artists that turn ‘DIY’ on its head, churning out albums that feel vast and cinematic despite the studio-less approach. Shep Treasure, the long-running project of Sabrina Nichols, has spent the last several years refining a sound that bridges the gap between intimate bedroom pop and the explosive world of fuzz folk. With the release of their latest album, Blanket, Nichols–alongside partner and collaborator James Keegan–has delivered a record that feels like an organic detour from their 2018 origins, trading some of that early bedroom pop sheen for a deeply textured blend of freak folk and fuzzy, atmospheric slowcore.
Released on February 6th, Blanket arrives as our Album of the Week for its ability to feel both incredibly small and remarkably large at the same time. Recorded at home and mastered by Ben Morey at Rochester’s Submarine Sounds Studio, the album maintains a raw, living room feel while benefiting from a sophisticated sense of space. It’s a record that leans right into the long-form compositions with gradual sonic shifts that feels like watching wispy soft clouds turn heavy with the threat of storm.
The opening track, “Dove,” sets a deliberate pace. Clocking in at six minutes, it moves from a dozy, delicate crawl into choruses that bite with a solid amount of grit, showcasing the record’s duality right from the opening track. It’s also here that we see the influence of Keegan’s background in the blog-favorite slowcore outfit Kitchen, with instrumentation that feels weighted and intentional. The album doesn’t stay in one lane though; the lead single “Fired and Expelled” pivots toward this playful, droning energy that sounds like something right off of Neutral Milk Hotel’s first LP. It’s a fuzzy, psyche-leaning highlight where Nichols’ lyrics (“I betrayed myself and now I’m someone else / I’m in hell”) strike a balance between personal introspection and whimsical freak folk experimentation.
The mid-section explores more indie-rock adjacent territory with “Scarecrow Blue Bow” and “Orchard Beach City Island.” These tracks offer a fuller band feel, layering Nichols’ wispy ethereal vocals through thickets of fuzz and melodic hooks. They provide a nice counterweight to the more ambient “Omnipotent” or glacial pace of “Tornado,” giving the record variety. On “Cold Air,” Nichols’ songwriting is at its most piercing, with lyrics like “Claw off the frost from the window / slow down the car ‘cause of the snow / you crave a kiss like a crash / the thought it strikes like a match.”
The album ends on its longest note with title track “Blanket,” a track that really showcases the production chemistry between Nichols and Keegan. It’s eight minutes of pure mood–droning and flowy ambiance that’s light on structure but totally immersive. It’s got that specific “recorded at home” warmth that makes you feel like you’re sitting in the corner of their basement studio watching it happen. For anyone in WNY who has been following Shep Treasure since 2018, this feels like the sound they’ve been chasing all along. Blanket is streaming now on all major platforms with some nice looking physical media available on their bandcamp.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Ronald Walczyk