THE WEED TREE

Great EP of mostly cover songs recorded after Espers' first album. Though all of the songs with the exception of Dead King are covers, the group manages to consistently showcase their original sound. The first half of this long EP are fairly standard folk songs. However all of them are well chosen and very well played by the new version of this great band.

The second half picks up with more progressive songs, most notably the cover of Flaming Telepaths by Blue Oyster Cult. They remain true to the original with their own unique sound until the end, where it meanders into a psychedelic frenzy of electric guitars. Dead King is a taste of what we will see on the group's second essential album, II, though the version on II is longer and better produced.

Overall, the album sounds great but not entirely progressive. Essential for fans of Espers and certainly worth checking out otherwise. However for those new to Espers and this interesting neo-folk subgenre, their two studio albums are the essential releases, especially their second one.