Sorry for the old movie quote, but Earlimart is a tricky species. I keep expecting them to be boring—a one-idea band that finally runs its course. The first releases were soaked through with Elliott Smith vocals and sad-sackery by way of Eels-esque jumps from happy to angry-sounding songs. The overall concept was always the same—a singular metaphor drubbed over 12 songs and a wonderful sense of how to write a song.
Yet, I love this every time. Mentor Tormentor is no exception to any of the rules—sad-sackery and all references to other artists remain—and remains something I should be bored with almost immediately. Like alcohol, they are intoxicating though the taste is basically the same from time to time. Okay, that was a terrible example.
This album, though formulaic, spins through its cycles with a grander design than the other albums. The production is bigger—sweeping string arrangements clamor in the background, the vocals are less distorted and more pure it seems, etc. The lyrics remain largely fixated on twisting colloquialisms to fit demoralizations and bitter reminiscences, yet they too seem larger than normal. Mentor Tormentor's grander scope allows the listener to forgive the commonality of the words—much like a Springsteen song sounds perfectly at home, Earlimart's latest has found a perfect niche. Songs like "Gonna Break Into Your Heart," and "Everybody Knows Everybody" (my personal favorite) are cheesy. It's true, but it doesn't matter, since the music accompanies them so perfectly in nearly every aspect.
Earlimart somehow even surpass the "guilty pleasure" mode and settle into a band that a listener would recommend for certain bitter or depressing moods: break-ups, bad work days, general malaise. Earlimart won't cure any of these ailments, but they hammer home the points of contention pretty well. Maybe that is why they are so addicting in the first place. It's not their catchiness or cheesiness—it's their knowledge of what they are doing. They are fantastic at what they do, and I find that supremely addicting. I'm sold. I can't help it. |