Music Reviews

Album Review: Earlimart – ‘Mentor Tormentor’

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 24, 2007, 20:07 GMT

Although based in Los Angeles, the band draws its name from Earlimart, California.  The band was formed in 1996 by lead singer Aaron Espinoza and bass player Ariana Murray. 

The band seemed to have a revolving door as far as members (sixteen are listed on the Wikipedia entry) but now have Simon Bixler (guitar), Davey Latter (drums, keyboard), Ashod Simonia (guitar), and Brian Thornell (drums). 

The band started off as more punk rock, from what I’ve read, but appear to have “mellowed” with age.  Don’t expect a lot of screaming (or torment) on ‘Mentor Tormentor.’  However, that doesn’t meant that it’s a bad album but those expecting punk will come away disappointed. 

This change seemed to coincide with Espinoza discovering the piano and ended up with a more melodic sound.  “Happy Alone” especially has a more piano driven sound and reminded me of some of the work by the Beatles. 

The songs have a laid back quality and was quite an easy listen.  This was appealing to me, but I do like a diversity of tempos on occasion.  They seem to blend together, but maybe that’s what the band was hoping to do?  I found the album a good listen. 
‘Mentor Tormentor’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information.