Still mining the melancholy sound that dominated 2004's Tremble & Tremble (which was their concept album about the dearly departed Elliott Smith, one of front-man Aaron Espinoza's best friends) Earlimart's Mentor Tormentor is a direct continuation of that icy, introverted style - though Mentor Tormentor is more Rock band oriented than that previous album's mellow, singer-songwriter type feel.

Espinoza still sounds like a kindred spirit to Smith and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. Those hushed, seething-style vocals work wonders for pulse pounding tracks like the opening "Fakey Fake" and hard-rockin' "Everybody Knows Everybody." Espinoza's right hand woman Ariana Murray moves a step or two closer to the spotlight here contributing lead vocals to two tracks. "Happy Alone" and "The World" equally stand up to the greatness of Espinoza's songs, showing that Murray's Amiee Mann meets Georgia Hubley from Yo La Tengo voice is worth exploring more exponentially on future Earlimart releases. The fact that the whole album is so richly lush and was only put together by just the two of them this go around even makes Mentor Tormentor that much more impressive. Five albums in and still highly undervalued in the Indie-Rock world, if you haven't done yourself a favor and introduced yourself to this highly talented pair, now is as good a time as any because Mentor Tormentor is yet another excellent entry into their venerable catalog.