Espers / Iii

Drag City

After what seems to be an interminably long gap and born into an inextricably changed world, Espers III walks among us, finally and finely. It’s not as if ESPERS completely disappeared following their acclaimed first and second albums and tours. They played the odd show here and there — but with time and focus given to MEG BAIRD’s solo album Dear Companion, THE VALERIE PROJECT and HELENA ESPVALL’s collaborations with MASAKI BATOH and others, not to mention the launching and flight of GREG WEEKS’ Language of Stone label, three years passed like a day or two in the life of Espers. Picking up the threads with ease, Espers III was intended to be an aural reversal of the layered sound of II. The goal was to record fewer tracks in order to achieve a stronger, more oxygenated sonic presence. Where II was almost claustrophobic in its density and darkness, III was envisaged as being somehow lighter, effervescent; perhaps even of a cheery disposition at times. Under these auspices, recording started in late 2008 and spilled into the spring and summer of 2009. As more time passed in the recording process, a growing dementia within both song and lyrics emerged, making even the most ethereal songs on III seem oddly unwholesome to all involved. (STREET DATE - 10/20/2009)

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