Stephen Mejias

Robert Baird's office is a record shop crowded by tall stacks of many&#150colored jewel cases and digipaks.

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.

Grails' Interpretations of Three Psychedelic Rock Songs from around the World, part of Southern Records' incredibly dope, limited-edition Latitudeshttp://www.southern.com/southern/label/LTT/">Latitudes; series, was a gift from Michael Lavorgna. Note the radical etching of the white vinyl. Only 700 copies are/were available.

Here’s the video for the Fiery Furnaces’s hit single, “Even in the Rain,” which is possibly my favorite track from the band’s excellently easy-to-listen-to album, I’m Going Away. (It’s not really a “hit.” I just made that up. But it could be, if we lived in a different world.)

They're very handsome, by the way. I've been meaning to mention that.

Over the summer, Jon built a little, cozy shed in the valley behind his home. We took the trail down there one afternoon and got some work in.