Stephen Mejias

Right from the start&#151from the very first musical moment&#151it’s the gorgeous, spacious sound we’ve grown to love from Espers’ Greg Weeks and his Hexham">http://www.myspace.com/hexhamhead">Hexham Head Studio in Philadelphia. While III’s rather straightforward instrumentation (churning, scintillating acoustic guitars, appropriately warm, round bass, and steady, impactful drums) marks a subtle departure from the doumbek and dholak of IIhttp://blog.stereophile.com/musicroom/facethemusic/042706espers/">II;, the quality of sound is no less complex or stirring. We hear the sounds of wood and brass meeting with flesh and skin, of bow hair as it courses along cello strings, of cello moan and sigh, of the most delicious fuzzed-out guitar placed in realistic, three-dimensional space&#151all with such truth, such blood, such respect of momentum and flow, that we are fooled into thinking that the very space around us is, in fact, growing, exhaling, beating.

Espers (from left): Meg Baird, Helena Espvall, Greg Weeks, Brooke Sietinsons. Photo: Daniel Coston.

I had been curious about the gorgeous releases from UK indie label, Type">http://typerecords.com/">Type Recordings, but because I knew none of the artists, I held back. Invariably, however, I would be drawn to their albums, simply taken by the quiet, thoughtful cover art and album titles like I Could Not Love You More and Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea. How could I not be attracted to this?

Although it was a really lovely autumn Sunday with soft blue skies, abundant sunshine, and a crisp breeze, I was still feeling rather worn out from shipping our December issue. Instead of finding a place to watch the Giants demolish the Raiders, I decided to stay inside and listen to records. I considered taking notes to accompany each album, but doing so would have felt too much like more work, so I opted to simply listen and deal with the subsequent guilt.

I’m not going to get all flowery and poetic on this one. I’m just going to say: Buy this record.

I listened to Ducktailshttp://www.myspace.com/ducktailss">Ducktails;’ Landscapes once&#151once!&#151and was disappointed by its apparent simplicity. I set it aside while many other albums came into my life and piled atop its strange, hot pink cover art.

To congratulate myself for getting our 2010 Buyer’s Guide out the door on time (pretty much), I zoomed out of here this past Tuesday night and headed straight to Other Music for some new records. I think the people who work there are starting to recognize me.