Music Banter - View Single Post - Aural Fixation- Gavin B.'s Music Blog

Gavin B. · 05-09-2010, 06:42 AM

Espers Revives Sixties Era Psychedelic Folk Rock

Over the course of the past five years, the Philadelphia based band Espers has become my favorite band. The band has vintage folk rock, psychedelic sound (circa 1968) that was pioneered by the Byrds and Love in Los Angeles and Celtic rockers like Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band and Pentangle in the UK. Espers has cultivated the Haight Ashbury thrift shop hippie fashion look of the psychedelic era, but there are unmistakable post-modern touches to the band's music that make Espers's music akin to contemporary indie folk rockers like Fleet Foxes, Marissa Nadler, Band of Horses and Iron & Wine.

Meg Baird & Greg Weeks both have many other musical projects and solo careers aside from the involvment in Espers.

Singer and guitarist Meg Baird sounds and looks a lot like Sandy Denny the uniquely talented Celtic musician who sang for Fairport Convention during their peak years of musical success. Ms. Denny's brilliant career was sadly ended at age 31 by a fall down a flight of steps that took her life. Meg Baird shuns the comparisons to Sandy Denny and to be fair Ms. Baird's songwriting is her own unique musical statement. I've come across a solo album by Meg where she's playing guitar and singing with very litte other accompaniment and her voice has an entirely different quality in that musical setting.

Greg Weeks is an indie record label owner, a member of five different bands and the singer and guitarist for Espers. Mr. Week's long serpentine guitars solos bring the psychedelic element to the folk rock of Espers. All six band members (3 male & 3 female) are proficient singers and Week's choral arrangements makes their pristine vocals sound like delicately etched glass.

You'll notice that the haunting arrangement of Dead King uses some electronic enhancements and there isn't really a strict purist attitude toward technology on the part of the group. The vocal arrangement on Dead King is dazzling. There 4 (maybe 5) vocal parts, 2 guitar parts, a synth part, violin and some sort of woodwind, and they still all manage to texture the music beautifully instead of just making noise. That sort of texture layering of sound is what gives the Espers music an ethereal, other worldly qaulity.

The Road of Golden Dust is from the latest Espers album entitled Espers iii and primary features Greg Weeks on vocals with some assistance from Meg Baird. This song also showcases a psychedelic guitar crossfire between Greg Weeks and Brooke Sietinsons that recalls the celestial sounds of the twin guitar solos of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd when they both played guitar in Television.

05-09-2010, 06:42 AM	#202 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Espers Revives Sixties Era Psychedelic Folk Rock Over the course of the past five years, the Philadelphia based band Espers has become my favorite band. The band has vintage folk rock, psychedelic sound (circa 1968) that was pioneered by the Byrds and Love in Los Angeles and Celtic rockers like Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band and Pentangle in the UK. Espers has cultivated the Haight Ashbury thrift shop hippie fashion look of the psychedelic era, but there are unmistakable post-modern touches to the band's music that make Espers's music akin to contemporary indie folk rockers like Fleet Foxes, Marissa Nadler, Band of Horses and Iron & Wine. Meg Baird & Greg Weeks both have many other musical projects and solo careers aside from the involvment in Espers. Singer and guitarist Meg Baird sounds and looks a lot like Sandy Denny the uniquely talented Celtic musician who sang for Fairport Convention during their peak years of musical success. Ms. Denny's brilliant career was sadly ended at age 31 by a fall down a flight of steps that took her life. Meg Baird shuns the comparisons to Sandy Denny and to be fair Ms. Baird's songwriting is her own unique musical statement. I've come across a solo album by Meg where she's playing guitar and singing with very litte other accompaniment and her voice has an entirely different quality in that musical setting. Greg Weeks is an indie record label owner, a member of five different bands and the singer and guitarist for Espers. Mr. Week's long serpentine guitars solos bring the psychedelic element to the folk rock of Espers. All six band members (3 male & 3 female) are proficient singers and Week's choral arrangements makes their pristine vocals sound like delicately etched glass. You'll notice that the haunting arrangement of Dead King uses some electronic enhancements and there isn't really a strict purist attitude toward technology on the part of the group. The vocal arrangement on Dead King is dazzling. There 4 (maybe 5) vocal parts, 2 guitar parts, a synth part, violin and some sort of woodwind, and they still all manage to texture the music beautifully instead of just making noise. That sort of texture layering of sound is what gives the Espers music an ethereal, other worldly qaulity. The Road of Golden Dust is from the latest Espers album entitled Espers iii and primary features Greg Weeks on vocals with some assistance from Meg Baird. This song also showcases a psychedelic guitar crossfire between Greg Weeks and Brooke Sietinsons that recalls the celestial sounds of the twin guitar solos of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd when they both played guitar in Television. Last edited by Gavin B.; 05-16-2010 at 07:30 AM.