{"id":2740,"date":"2025-06-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/horror-show-friend-of-a-friend-made-their-new-record-at-the-site-of-americas-first-documented-exorcism\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:00:00","slug":"horror-show-friend-of-a-friend-made-their-new-record-at-the-site-of-americas-first-documented-exorcism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/horror-show-friend-of-a-friend-made-their-new-record-at-the-site-of-americas-first-documented-exorcism\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror Show: Friend of a Friend Made Their New Record at the Site of America\u2019s First Documented Exorcism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF1.jpeg\" width=\"\" height=\"\" alt=\"Claire Molek and Jason Savsani of Friend of a Friend. (Credit: Ash Dye)\"><\/figure>\n<p><em>Horror Show is a new series uncovering the stories of artists\u2019 experiences with the supernatural, paranormal, and unexplained\u2014and how surviving it provided new appreciation for creating in the here and now.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/06\/eddie-jill-vedder-matter-of-time\/\">Eddie, Jill Vedder Reveal The Human Side Of EB In \u2018Matter Of Time\u2019 Doc<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/06\/5-albums-i-cant-live-without-kristopher-roe-of-the-ataris\/\">5 Albums I Can\u2019t Live Without:\u00a0Kristopher Roe of the Ataris<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/06\/every-fugazi-album-ranked\/\">Every Fugazi Album, Ranked<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There\u2019s always been something a bit peculiar and inexplicable about the journey of Friend of a Friend. For a long time, bandmates Claire Molek and Jason Savsani were passing ships in the Chicago arts scene\u2014she an Episcopalian choir singer turned arts dealer, he a dabbling guitarist and the tech wizard behind travel startup MealSharing.com. And while they had seen each other routinely at parties and events, it was only when a mutual acquaintance (the actual \u201cfriend of a friend\u201d) suggested the two link up and jam together during COVID did it become what some might call fate.<\/p>\n<p>The duo soon discovered weird coincidences, like how the first piece of music they each bought was exactly the same: The Cranberries\u2019 <em>Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can\u2019t We? <\/em>On a grander scale, both would soon believe they finally found their musical soulmate after years of toiling in projects that never took off. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt that connected with anyone in this capacity,\u201d says Savsani. \u201cFrom that first day forward, we\u2019ve jammed every day since.\u201d The outcome has been three solid albums in three years, all astutely combining the moodiness of Beach House with the vocal eeriness of PJ Harvey and the sonic experimentalism of Radiohead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like it was sort of a supernatural experience. I really, truly feel like we\u2019re cosmically so connected and aligned,\u201d adds Molek. Yet, as we continue our conversation, moving into the band\u2019s unbelievable experience of recording their latest album <em>Desire!<\/em> in one of the most haunted houses in America, Savsani wants to get one thing perfectly straight: \u201cFor the record, we 110,000,000% did not seek this out \u2026 we were catfished into this fucked up place.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1211\" height=\"807\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF3.jpeg\" alt=\"(Credit: Ash Dye)\" class=\"wp-image-466275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF3.jpeg 1211w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF3-340x227.jpeg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF3-240x160.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF3-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/FoaF3-498x332.jpeg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1211px) 100vw, 1211px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Ash Dye)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The three of us are meeting for coffee in our shared hometown of Chicago, settling on a witchy spot called Hexe Coffee Co. where Friend of a Friend likes to pregame before local shows. The black walls are adorned with framed insect taxidermy and skull paintings, which perfectly set the mood as the duo details what went on for two weeks in the summer of 2024 while holing up at the site of the so-called \u201cWatseka Wonder,\u201d an old Victorian mansion located 90 miles outside Chicago where spiritualists performed the first documented exorcism in the United States on a 14-year-old named Lurancy Vennum who was purportedly possessed by another young girl, Mary Roff. The subject has been ghost lore for decades, investigated on shows like <em>Ghost Brothers<\/em> and the inspiration behind the 2009 film <em>The Possessed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Yet, the band knew none of this when they found the option for rent on Airbnb. After recording previous efforts, 2022\u2019s <em>In Arms <\/em>and 2024\u2019s <em>FACILITIES <\/em>in Nashville and Joshua Tree, respectively, Savsani and Molek were simply looking for something a little closer to home, a quaint spot in the countryside that was drivable and would allow them to enjoy a Midwest summer after seasons of constant touring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were thinking about really mundane things: Is there a farmers market? Is there enough space around us that the neighbors won\u2019t be bothered? Is it cheap? Are there enough rooms [for us and our producer and drummer]? Does it have a decent kitchen? Does it have a nice outdoor space? \u2026 It seemed like it had <em>character<\/em>,\u201d Molek recalls, finding the irony in the word choice as we migrate to the caf\u00e9\u2019s patio and she takes a drag from a rolled cigarette while pulling on her sunglasses. She\u2019s wearing a pink head scarf tied around her neck that gives off vibes of a Hitchcockian starlet.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1074\" height=\"1074\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/Desirealbumart.jpeg\" alt=\"Friend of a Friend's new album, 'Desire'\" class=\"wp-image-466273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/Desirealbumart.jpeg 1074w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/Desirealbumart-340x340.jpeg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/Desirealbumart-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/05\/Desirealbumart-498x498.jpeg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1074px) 100vw, 1074px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Friend of a Friend\u2019s new album, \u2018Desire\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In hindsight, Molek admits that she remembers seeing some reviews on the Airbnb page that maybe tipped things off. \u201cStuff like \u2018I really wish I would have known about this because I wouldn\u2019t have brought my children,\u2019\u201d she says, adding, \u201cbut it was like yeah I wouldn\u2019t bring my children to a restored house from 1890 either. \u2026 Never did I think it was because there\u2019s ghosts or something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just thought there would be cool acoustics \u2026 or that that reverb would be sick,\u201d Savsani shares. \u201cAnd then we got there, and right when we walk in, we\u2019re like \u2018hell to the no.\u2019\u201d He\u2019s still clearly shook up about the whole thing and looks like he wants to burrow in his denim jacket any time we start talking about the house. \u201cWe\u2019ve never felt that way about any place. We\u2019ve stayed at some random places on the band journey. But this was just \u2026 off,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>Their producer, Jordan Lawler of M83, was the first to spend the night in the house and agitatedly called Savsani and Molek as they headed out on the road the next day. \u201cHe said, \u2018I will not be staying upstairs. I will be just camping out on the couch. This is my room now,\u201d Molek shares. To this day, she and Savsani still don\u2019t know what happened to Lawler as he was too spooked to share details, and no one really wanted to know any way. Collectively, they all felt strange creaks, heard unexplainable noises, and had an overwhelming feeling there was someone else in the house with them.<\/p>\n<p>The band\u2019s session drummer, Jessica Burdeaux, looked up \u201ccan spirits attach to your body before going into a house,\u201d according to Savsani, and slept \u201clike a mummy\u201d with the lights on and doors open. Savsani wasn\u2019t sleeping at all; he now believes his room was once the young girl\u2019s bedroom and the energy was so intense he wasn\u2019t able to relax. Instead, he continued to record after all the others went to sleep, particularly utilizing one room set off the house that was oddly covered in cork. \u201cIt felt like maybe it was to muffle screams or something,\u201d Savsani says, recalling feeling brushes through the back of his hair when he set up in the space.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1226\" height=\"817\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/foaf-picks-5.jpg\" alt=\"Jason Savsani in the Roff House, where America's first documented exorcism took place. (Courtesy Friend of a Friend)\" class=\"wp-image-466293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/foaf-picks-5.jpg 1226w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/foaf-picks-5-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/foaf-picks-5-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/foaf-picks-5-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/foaf-picks-5-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1226px) 100vw, 1226px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jason Savsani in the Roff House, where America\u2019s first documented exorcism took place. (Courtesy Friend of a Friend)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Three days into the stay, Savsani got a call from the house\u2019s owner that amplified the creep factor. \u201cHe goes, \u2018Look, you guys are gonna be here for two weeks. So I just wanted to let you know, people in the town are going to tell you that that house is really haunted, and they\u2019re going to tell you to get out, like, right away. But it was just some 19th-century spiritualists doing seances, it\u2019s no big deal,\u2019\u201d the guitarist recalls hearing from the other line. \u201cHe literally said \u2018the townspeople.\u2019 I was like, dude, that\u2019s how you start a fucking horror movie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Savsani kept the full extent of the information to himself for those two full weeks, knowing how spooked everyone else already was. Incredibly, the band did not abandon ship at any point. \u201cThe beautiful thing is that we all had to come together in this bonding moment\u2026 We decided we were going to power through and make this album and convert whatever it is into something beautiful, into something hopeful, despite what\u2019s going on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And through it, the house became its own sort of collaborator, says Molek. \u201cAll of this happening to us was very informative to the album in ways that we didn\u2019t know.\u201d Even some sketches she had early on drawn for the record cover were nearly exact carbon copies of the eventual album art created by an outside artist. \u201cHe made something almost exactly similar. He had never seen these same images,\u201d says Molek, conceding. \u201cThe album came out the way it wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can hear it on songs like the gothic hymnal \u201cGloria\u201d and the folk art stunner \u201cFTV (For The Vein)\u201d in which Molek\u2019s distorted vocal effects and pained whispering feel like they come from outside her own body. \u201cThere are definitely sounds from the house baked into those songs,\u201d says Savsani, which they achieved by just turning on the mic and letting it capture \u201corganic noises\u201d in the shadows, like EVP might do. \u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to hide the sense of place,\u201d adds Molek.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, they were trying to mend it. \u201cI remember really specifically feeling like we\u2019re gonna make this house full of positivity and good vibes. I wanted to focus on that,\u201d says Molek. So, she adjusted the furniture and feng shui\u2019ed objects. The group baked bread and made home-cooked meals most nights. They adorned statues on the grounds. \u201cThey say that once you start to open the portals up, it\u2019ll stay. So I felt like let\u2019s create a place where [the spirits of these girls] can be loved and protected and feel safe,\u201d says Molek.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1224\" height=\"1632\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/IMG_7131_VSCO.jpg\" alt=\"Claire Molek recording inside the Roff House. (Courtesy Friend of a Friend)\" class=\"wp-image-466292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/IMG_7131_VSCO.jpg 1224w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/IMG_7131_VSCO-340x453.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/IMG_7131_VSCO-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/IMG_7131_VSCO-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/06\/IMG_7131_VSCO-498x664.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1224px) 100vw, 1224px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Claire Molek recording inside the Roff House. (Courtesy Friend of a Friend)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It may have worked. When the band got back home to Chicago, Savsani started having dreams about the young Vennum girl. \u201cI remember having to help her out of the room I had been staying in. \u2026 It was like everything was getting sucked back into the room and I had to physically help her out and to close the door. And in some way, it felt really cathartic, like a closing of a chapter,\u201d he says. \u201cI do think we helped in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the experience still weighs heavy on the band, Savsani admits, \u201cWe\u2019re super happy how it worked out. In some ways it allowed whatever was supposed to happen to happen, it made us come through stronger. \u2026 And that\u2019s not even just the supernatural part. That\u2019s life. There\u2019s adversity and you have to power through. \u2026 The takeaway is always beauty and hope being larger than life and pushing that into that world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re wondering about where they might record next, Savsani and Molek have it already figured out, setting their eyes on the Italian seaside where they\u2019ll break for some time between festival dates this summer. Though Savsani cautions they\u2019ve since updated one thing: \u201cWe\u2019ve now put on our rider that wherever we stay, we don\u2019t want to know if it\u2019s haunted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Horror Show is a new series uncovering the stories of artists\u2019 experiences with the supernatural, paranormal, and unexplained\u2014and how surviving it provided new appreciation for creating in the here and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1660,1661,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-friend-of-a-friend","category-haunted-house","category-pushly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}