[EP] - Rolla Blends Intricate Rhythms and Emotional Depth on Evocative Debut EP "Not Today Old Friend"
Imagine an antique kaleidoscope held to a blood-orange sky: twist the barrel and fragments of dusk rearrange themselves into new geometries each second. That optical vertigo approximates the sensation of Rolla’s audacious EP Not Today Old Friend, where Vallen Koscheev fractures math-rock prisms until indie-pop hues bleed through the cracks. Indeed, this five-song cycle feels less like a debut and more like the diary of a seasoned cartographer plotting joy and desolation on the same trembling parchment.
Musically, Koscheev’s guitar tone flits between glassy harmonics and serrated downstrokes, while the rhythm section plays a cunning shell game with meter—just when you settle into 4/4, a sly bar of 7/8 yanks the rug. Yet the mixes remain generous: every hi-hat splash is granted breathing room, and low-end warmth cocoons the sharper angles. Lyrically, the artist favours impressionistic micro-scenes that evoke emotion by implication rather than confession. However, his reliance on abstract imagery occasionally mutes the personal stakes, leaving a few lines hovering like unclaimed luggage.
Track by track (in brisk brushstrokes)
“Holidays Are Just Around the Corner” introduces chiming palm-mutes that blossom into minor-key swells—think American Football nursing a winter cold. The verse — “And I drift away again / To where I do not remember / To be a friend / I forgot I am” — paradoxically buoyant, examines friendship eroded by mileage; the duality sets the EP’s emotional compass.
“Sitting Here Depressed When I’m Surrounded by the Happiest People in the World” pivots to a woozy bass motif over snare-brush jazz flourishes. Moreover, the song’s elastic tempo captures the manic seesaw of social anxiety—brilliant, if slightly dizzying for casual ears.
“Let’s Go to the Old Mill Anyway to Get Some Cider” slows the pulse, layering finger-picked filigrees above a hearth-warm drone. In fact, its mix is the EP’s most spacious, allowing breathy vocal cracks to register as sonic freckles rather than flaws.
“This All-Knowing Perspective Comes with Some Perks” detonates ambient synth embers into a post-rock sprint. The dynamic whiplash thrills, yet the lyric’s cosmic detachment can feel aloof compared with earlier intimacy.
“Father of the Year (Pal, Father of the Year)” closes the curtain with tidal crescendos and mantra-like pleas of “Will you be there when I wake up?” The mix piles delay-soaked guitars into a cathedral of resonance, delivering catharsis that lingers like neon after-image.
Vibe check
Listening front-to-back feels like wandering a rusted carnival at closing time—cotton-candy sweetness wafting through creaking rides, nostalgia and foreboding braided together. Moreover, Koscheev’s production resists the loudness-war crunch, opting for dynamic headroom that lets whispers loom as large as power chords. The only caveat: the EP’s cerebral knot-tying may repel listeners craving uncomplicated hooks.
Verdict
”Not Today Old Friend” is a beguiling balancing act—technically fearless yet emotionally porous. In addition to confirming Rolla’s as a guitarist of surgical precision, it reveals a songwriter audacious enough to puncture his own bravado with doubt. One leaves the record feeling both weightless and oddly homesick, as though the kaleidoscope’s final pattern were an unfinished goodbye.
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