Biography

Shannon Esper and Jake Rabinbach are a couple who've been lucky in love and lucky in music -- they're married, and they're also the leaders of the Echo-Friendly, a band that generates a unique fusion of indie rock, garage rock, and smart pop. Esper and Rabinbach first met in 2009, when they were working on an independent film called Open Five. The two hit it off and became close friends while dating on and off. Rabinbach started a band in 2010 called Jump Back Jake and the Echo-Friendly, with Jake on guitar and vocals, Jake Vest on bass, and Greg Faison on drums. (Vest and Faison had previously worked together in the Memphis bands Tiger High and the Bulletproof Vests.) This initial edition of the group released a four-song EP, Still Not Sorry. In 2011, the group shortened the name to the Echo-Friendly, with Esper joining the lineup on vocals and guitar, and they dropped a pair of singles, "Same Mistakes" b/w "There's Part of Me Nobody Sees But You" and "Boats." Esper and Rabinbach knew actress and filmmaker Lena Dunham through their film work, and after hearing the song "Same Mistakes," she picked the tune to run over the end credits of a first-season episode of her HBO series Girls, giving the song some much-needed exposure. In May 2014, the Echo-Friendly released their first full-length album, Love Panic, which included a re-recorded version of "Same Mistakes." December 2015 saw the release of Echo Presley, a collection of covers, outtakes, and rarities; it was also the group's first release after relocating from Memphis, Tennessee to Brooklyn, New York, where Esper and Rabinbach finally tied the knot. In December 2017, the Echo-Friendly brought out Surveying the Damage, their second full-length album and their most accessible work to date. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi