Customer Reviews

III

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

First things first: I found out about Espers back in the day because of my daughter, who somehow (I have no idea how wxactly) became aware of them and she introduced me to their fantastic 2004 self-titled debut album, a throwback to the 1960s psychedelia. In 2006 the band came back with an equally enthralling "II" album. Now comes the next chapter.

"III" (10 tracks; 47 min.) is somewhat of a departure of the first two albums, in that it is clearly less psychedelic-oriented, with the band expanding its musical horizon. The albums kicks off with a joyous folk-rock "I Can't See Clear", which sets the tone for the album. There is plenty of vocal interplay between Meg Baird and Greg Weeks throughout the album (check out the beautiful "Caroline" as just one example). "That Which Darkly Thrives" is (as the title implies) quite dark, but with enthralling musical interplay from the band's instruments, it's my favorite tune of the album. Great tracks follow one after another, each of them taking their time to gently develop and mesmorize you. The album's closer, the 6 min. epic "Trollslända" merits special attention, as is summarizes the album perfectly.

In all, "III" is quite a nice addition to and evolution of the Espers' musical output. Can't wait to see where Espers will go from here. I am an avid concert-goer but I still haven't had an opportunity to see these guys live in concert, and I can only hope to have an opportunity to do so sometime (are you reading this, Coachella organizers?).

Compared to their previous output, this album presents more direct and straightforward songs that are rather banal by comparison. Those that like their music with simpler melodies and musical scores may well prefer this to their previous discography, but I am not among them.

Much as I enjoyed their previous albums I hesitated before buying this, ultimately, I suppose, because I wondered if there was any room for improvement on those albums but also I had been worn down waiting(3+ years)for this instalment to arrive.

Well I should have had a little more faith, as this comfortably surpasses their previous albums, indeed, this sees them reach a new level and claim a sound that is truly their own. In the past the band have, naturally, been compared to Fairport/Incredible String Band, amongst others, but here they reign in some of the multilayered production trickery and this tilts the balance away from the latter and towards the former. Some may be disappointed but this, it seems to me, concentrates the attention on the songs more, which are revealed to be very good indeed. The immediate standouts tend to be the Meg Baird sung songs but this is hardly surprising and you soon find the others to be excellent too, in particular the instrumental support seems stronger and less prone to eccentric wandering than on previous recordings.

In summary I think this their best to date and, probably, their most accessible too. So for old fans or the inquisitive I recommend it wholeheartedly.