People of Philadelphia, we come to you hat in hand today, with apologies: We have not made nearly enough of a fuss over Espers III, the recently-released third album by our native sons and daughters Espers. As you may recall, we gave it a spin a few weeks back at Philebrity Salon, and it hasn’t been far down on the playlist ever since. Forgive us if we’re pouring it on too thick, but… this record is luminous and romantic and dark and scary, and to our ears, it’s the best thing the group has ever done, and we liked the other records, too. There is one track in particular, called “The Pearl,” and it actually approximates the sound of love. We didn’t even know love sounded like anything, or even if this song is about falling in love, but god-damn if this not the noise made by hearts underwater in a night sky that stretches over the place where the ancients built Stonehenge and called it rock ‘n’ roll:

We say all this in service of the fact that Espers will be at long last celebrating the release of Espers III — a truly great album in a time where people are starting to seriously wonder about the whole form — tomorrow night at Johnny Brenda’s. And after the grog tomorrow, we want you to go with us. To enter to win, email ihopeiwin[at]philebrity[dot]com with “ESPERS III IS TRULY THE GROUP’S MOST ACCOMPLISHED WORK TO DATE” in the subject header. You’ll automatically be subscribed to the new Philebrity Reader weekly newsletter and win chances for other exclusive free stuff. We’ll pick a winner first thing tomorrow, start mulling the spices and whatnot, and oh, oh, oh, the sound of deep scary love. PS. Vote for Espers vocalist Meg Baird in the Philebrity Awards poll while you’re at it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 5:24 pm.