- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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The main attraction is still Baird's and Weeks's haunting voices, which turn a risky experiment into a genre-defining classic.
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It’s an album that leaves you both soothed and disturbed, lulled and shaken by the group’s masterful blend of the comforting and the uncanny, slightly dazed as if returning from time travel or a knock on the head.
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Espers II is both wondrous and troubling.
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BlenderArtfully arranged songs about planets and beasts and bittersweet harmonies recall British folk-rock combos like Fairport Convention and Pentangle without coming off as retro or twee. [Jun 2006, p.137]
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Alternative PressThough parts of the album veer a bit too close to the synthetic hippie pabulum you hear upon entering the Nature Store, there's enough dark charm on Espers II to make it essential listeing for those of us who prefer our CDs caked with actual resin. [Jul 2006, p.208]
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Paste MagazineIt's part Fairport Convention and part Led Zeppelin at the band's most druidic. [Jun/Jul 2006, p.121]
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UncutThis is a terrific, sustained album. [Aug 2006, p.93]
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MojoA bewitching record. [Aug 2006, p.96]
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It all meanders a little, but getting lost in these songs proves to be an unexpected adventure.
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This is woeful, otherworldly - and wonderful.
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New Musical Express (NME)A series of back-to-the-futurescapes that are both lush and subtly unnerving. [29 Jul 2006, p.29]
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Q MagazineMusic that sounds completely out of time, made by an often incredible string band. [Sep 2006, p.108]
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II is a perfectly balanced record, and its arrangements are so exact and delicate that it almost feels like one buzz of a doorbell or ring of a telephone could send the whole thing toppling over, splattering into useless bits.
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The New York TimesIt's a handsome downer of a record. [15 May 2006]
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"II" conjures a creepy but very real neo-psychedelia that is alternately paranoid, somber and reflective.
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It’s the core songwriting beneath the band’s rich sonic layering that needs the greatest sharpening.
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Under The RadarA dense and intense descent into moodiness with absolutely stunning engineering and clarity. [Summer 2006, p.100]
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II is a lovely little record, but many of its charms are scripted; even charming people get old when you are forced to spend too much time with them.
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Ultimately, the album is explicitly notable for its musicality, rather than its content.
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This is a definite step up from the all-pall-and-no-pulse feel that made Espers' 2004 self-titled album too stuffy.
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Strip away the fug of patchouli oil and incense and you're left with little more than a shoegazing album played by Kula Shaker.
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The band seem to be far too familiar with the sonic designs of The Incredible String Band and Comus. Espers II sounds more like a lovelorn impersonation of the music than a radical exploration of its possibilities.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 13
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Mixed: 1 out of 13
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Negative: 1 out of 13
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TonyFJul 13, 2006
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SteveL.Jun 15, 2006
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BenHJun 6, 2006