Elly Roberts reviews
Espers: Espers II
Distributed by
Wichita
- July 2006
- Rating: 6/10
Fascinating release by retro-folksters The Espers.
Trad British folk is their inspirational template, with an American twist on
the genre.
Their slow-paced ethereal music is quite mesmerising, once you get into it –
you’ll probably need a bit of time actually. You may even need to be in a
certain’ mood’ to appreciate it, but don’t give up. Espers is Greg Weeks’
baby, who masterminds the whole ‘feel’ which draws (some) comparison with the
legendary Fairport Convention (though they’re more upbeat in many ways).
Espers appear to possess far earlier roots than Fairport themselves. Meg
Baird’s plaintive and pristine singing is both touching and endearing,
perfectly suited to the album’s ambience. Musically, it’s a bit of a
drifter and quite doomy in places (because of the drone and sombre violin),
so you need to make time to get to grips with its occasional complexity.
Opener Dead Queen takes you to some medieval glade with mist rolling through
the trees - you can feel the minstrels coming out to play at some banquet.
There are also plenty of psychedelic excursions thrown into the melting pot
to make it contemporary, with Widow’s Weed more like an early
Pink Floyd jam.
Cruel Storm is a gentle plodder with Baird’s
wistfulness in full flow, possibly the most beautiful song of the lot,
only to be outdone by the shining Children Of Stone and Mansfield
And Cyclops.
Closer Moon Occults The Sun bookends the album in typical mystical
style. Shortest song comes in at 5m 17 s – longest is 8m 54s – so Espers
aren’t in a rush to win you over. It’s the charm and subtle compositions
that eventually grab you.
You’re unlikely to revisit it very often, or even dismiss it as downright
weird, though you’ll never forget it.
This kind of ‘updating’ is nothing new: 11 is a real musos album, so you’ve
been warned.
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
