Earlimart

Members have come and gone, and so has the identity of a once dirty-ish rock act. In seeking out a new sound, Earlimart has stumbled a bit en route—but only with gaining a due audience—which is unfortunate. Last year's Mentor Tormentor was a widely overlooked, indie pop-rock gem, and Hymn and Her continues the more lush orchestration that their last few efforts have spawned.

Earlimart is starting to head down an interesting path: Hymn and Her sounds a lot like a lost '90s alt-rock outtake, in the vein of older bands like Luna, Madder Rose and Belly. Those acts didn't get any full-time respect, and maybe there's something about making well crafted dream-pop that people can't catch on to. Hymn and Her fluctuates between the upbeat, building piano-pop of tunes like "For The Birds" and "God Loves You Best," to more slow, weird numbers like the ethereal, string-lined "Tell Me." Lead Earlimarter Aaron Espinoza seems much more assertive this time around, in a sort of refund-demanding forcefulness on opener "Song For" as well as "Cigarettes and Kerosene." Maybe that sort of confidence has been lacking?

So, still, there's nothing that flashy about Earlimart. Nothing that's "in your face," or raw-sounding. They don't rely on fancy tricks, forced song structures or anything- just the idea that you if you can write good melodies, an occasional hook, and utilize a female backing voice at just the right time, you can make a quality record. Hymn and Her does just that.

—Mike Ayers
07.03.08

Earlimart took a casual approach to Mentor Tormentor, an intricate album whose creation spanned the course of three years. Songs were written at an unhurried pace while the group toured in support of its previous record, made the switch to a different record label, and pursued individual solo projects. So perhaps it's strange that Earlimart's follow-up, Hymn and Her, arrives just one year after Tormentor's 2007 release. It's the fastest turnaround of any Earlimart album, suggesting either a burst of inspiration or a slapdash, all-too-fast approach to songwriting. Fortunately, Hymn and Her features the same sun-baked slices of indie pop that made Mentor Tormentor and Treble & Tremble such appetizing fare. Bandmates Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray (now the group's only two members) haven't sacrificed quality for speed; they've simply shed their extra baggage, turning Earlimart from a multi-membered musical collective into a fast-working duo. As before, the new album places a big emphasis on sonic texture, but Espinoza also offers up some of his most straightforward pop melodies. Acoustic guitars chime over drum loops, keyboards bubble in the background, and harmonies thicken the melodies, yet Hymn and Her still sounds intimate, as if the bandmates have discovered how to funnel their densely populated songs into warm, mellow washes of sound. It's ideal music for headphones, where the clever production can reveal all of its layers. At the same time, it's hard to imagine a setting in which the relaxed chug of "Teeth" and "For the Birds" wouldn't sound completely engaging. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide