So I've been listening to Earlimart's Mentor Tormentor for a couple weeks now trying to figure out just how to describe it, but the more I listen to it the harder it becomes. After the first couple times through it seems easy, just put it in terms of who it sounds like, Elliott Smith, Fleetwood Mac, Aimee Mann, The Beatles, Midlake, Neil Young,etc. Well, it's all that and more, and the more I listen the more it becomes just Earlimart blending their influences into something at once familiar yet fresh without ever getting too derivative. From the slow piano based Happy Alone, to the revved up guitar rock of Everybody Knows Everybody, to the pure pop of Cold Cold Heaven, Mentor Tormentor is full of songs that slowly creep into your subconscius and stay there. And forget Peter, Bjorn, and John or Andrew Bird, Nothing Is True is hands down the best use of whistling in a song this year.

Mentor Tormentor was written and produced by Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray at The Ship, the band's studio in Eagle Rock, CA, and mixed by Dave Trumfio at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles. Recording in their own studio gave Espinoza, Ariana Murray and Joel Graves the luxury to write, record and shape Mentor Tormentor at their own pace, working with drummers Scott McPherson and Russell Pollard.

MP3: Earlimart - Happy Alone
MP3: Earlimart - Everybody Loves Everybody
Buy Mentor Tormentor

Earlimart US Tour dates:
Sept. 16 Treasure Island Music Festival, San Francisco
Sept. 27 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland
Sept. 29 Media Club, Vancouver
Oct. 5 El Mocambo, Toronto
Oct. 6 Main Hall, Montreal
Oct. 7 Harper's Ferry, Boston
Oct. 11 First Unitarian, Philadelphia
Oct. 12 Ottobar, Baltimore
Oct. 13 Duke Coffeehouse, Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill
Oct. 14 The Earl, Atlanta GA
Oct. 15 Bottletree, Birmingham
Oct. 16 Mink, Houston
Oct. 17 The Mohawk, Austin
Oct. 18 Palladium Loft, Dallas
Oct. 20 Larimer Lounge, Denver
Oct. 22 Paper Heart Venue, Phoenix
Oct. 23 Casbah, San Diego

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