It's been a pretty vast musical journey so far: from the freak folk of Espers' debut album to the wide-ranging psychedelia of their covers EP, to 2006's II, an album stepped in British folk formalism and drenched in overtone modal drones and careening electric guitars that added sheer rock power to the flowery proceedings. On III, the Philadelphia quintet do a bit of a mirror flip. While this album sounds brighter, cheerier, and more upbeat musically, lyrically, these songs inhabit a somewhat darker world. That's fine, the meld of classic American folk-rock, psychedelia, Brit-folk discipline, and the leftover traces of the acid folk of their origins all combine to make a recording of beauty, depth, complex dimensions, and dynamics, underscored by their best songwriting to date.
Track Listing
1 I Can't See Clear
2 The Road of Golden Dust
3 Caroline
4 The Pearl
5 That Which Darkly Thrives
6 Sightings
7 Meridian
8 Another Mood Song
9 Colony
10 Trollslända