ESPERS

Espers co-conspirators Greg Weeks and Meg Baird claim it was Krautrock that led them to the sound that is now packaged as something called 'Espers'. Well I'm not much of an authority on Krautrock, but I can say that this stuff seems a far cry from Popol Vuh or Floh de Cologne to me. Then again, those are about the only Krautrock bands I have in my collection, and these guys should know who their influences are, so never mind.

I will say that Espers rank right up there with a slew - well, a small slew; a trickle really. These guys rank up there with a small handful (much better.) of newer bands that seem to be having a blast reviving a spirit of adventurous exploration in their music with very few rules to bind them. Fairport Convention did that by creating a completely new blend of acoustic hippie pop with more traditional folk sounds on 'Liege & Lief' in 1969; Marillion merged metal and traditional art rock into a pompous sound and along with IQ pretty much created neo-progressive rock a generation later. And Graham Sutton came out of nowhere in the early nineties with Bark Psychosis to help give rise to an experimental sound that would become known as post rock. And Espers may go down in history as one of the innovating forces of a new brand of prog folk, one that blends drone music and sometimes wildly experimental sounds with very traditional-sounding folk trappings: acoustic guitar, finger cymbals, flute, autoharp, dulcimer, strings, and above all those angelic feminine voices. This album is a real treat for folk, experimental, and even psych fans alike.

Describing Espers' music is about as pointless as trying to explain Sleepytime Gorilla Museum or Idiot Flesh. I've you've ever tried to write a review for one of those albums you know what I mean.

But let's give it a shot.

I picked this up after seeing the band listed as a prog folk band, and both the look of the album artwork and the instrumentation listed on it gave me the impression this would be a newer version of late sixties-style languid folk. And the first track "Flowery Noontide" reinforces that impression. Mellow acoustic guitar, autoharp, hypnotic cello, Dennyisque vocals courtesy of Meg Baird. Yup, pretty much as advertised. And more of the same on "Meadow", although there's some suspicious tone generation going on at the end that seems to signal a shift in mood.

Turns out that's only the beginning. With "Riding" the Vox is out in full force, and despite Baird's acoustic guitar and Weeks' spacey vocals this is a considerably more psychedelic and hypnotic composition than the previous tracks. "Voices" is more of the same, with the drone of electronic fuzz tone toward the end building up to the crescendo that will come on the next track

By the time "Hearts & Daggers" rolls around Weeks' drone fetish is completely out of the bag. Despite the acoustic guitar and autoharp, this comes off sounding much more like a post-rock composition than anything resembling folk. The electronic fuzz drones on for more than eight minutes, and it is quite easy to get lost in the mood and forget you're listening to what is supposed to be a folk record. Good thing Dylan already broke the whole leap to electric mold a long time ago or this would be a lot more surprising than it is.

"Byss & Abyss" backs off a bit, but even here there is quite a bit of experimental tone generation toward the end just to keep the listener off-guard. And the band reinforces their modus operandi with the one-two combination of the acoustic and laid- back "Daughter" followed by a climactic drone and full-on psych affair with the "Travel Mountains" to end the album.

Not exactly what I expected for what was supposed to be a folk album, but Espers have delivered an excellent debut album and set themselves up to become a definitive prog band if they continue to develop their innovative sound in the future. Four stars for sure, and the capacity to deliver a masterpiece some day. Highly recommended.

peace