Espers make post-rock FOR ELVES. They don't know this, presumably, because as is readily apparent from - well, from everything about them, really - they live in the depths of a haunted forest and couldn't possibly have an idea what post-rock is.Despite the limitations of living in such an environment, though, Espers have managed to get their mystical pan pipes, carved drums and electric guitars (wait, what?) together to record a third album proper, III.The distinction from their previous efforts is palpable and yet difficult to precisely pin down. In comparison to the sparse melancholy air of their debut album, Espers, and the claustrophobic grandiosity of its successor, II, Espers' latest offering seems almost... jaunty. Such an assessment seems mildly absurd of an album whose second track begins with a mournful lament against a heavy bass and drawn-out guitars: "The summer heat disfiguring, the lake beyond the killing ring". And yet despite this, the overall atmosphere of the album undeniably feels lighter than that of its predecessors. Whilst grandiosity and density are by no means abandoned, songs feel more relaxed, with the band's folkiness more to the surface. Gone for the most part are the wide spaces found in the first album, and the sinister echoes of the second, to be replaced by gentle harmonised vocals and even that acoustic staple, strumming.This change is highlighted in a dramatic fashion towards the end of the album. As soon as one hears the opening bars of 'Colony', the penultimate track, the shift in mood is immediately apparent. The bass deepens, the drums beat a death waltz, the fiddle become violin, and lead singer Greg Weeks' voice sounds almost possessed as he intones, "Slumbering under a lumbering sun, blistering bodies resolved into one".The haunted menace of 'Colony' may well be the best thing Espers have ever created. But its harsh beauty brings into relief the shortcomings of the rest of the album: without this brooding and sinister edge Espers are capable of making perfectly competent psych-folk, but there is little to distinguish them from other purveyors of the same. For the most part, III is pleasant and mildly interesting listening, but in comparison to their earlier work, ultimately pretty unremarkable.

Buy album from Amazon | [itunes link="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/espers/id74616092?uo=4" title="Espers" text="iTunes"]