Earlimart

Earlimart, whose lineup mixes male and female voices, gravitates toward midtempo pacing marked by abrupt halts within experimental post-punk, ethereal indie pop, and understated folk textures. The ensemble derives its name from a modest California town positioned between Los Angeles and Fresno. Its idiosyncratic method of assembling songs prompted early likenings to the Pixies, Sonic Youth, X, and Sparklehorse. Those parallels secured a contract with Devil in the Woods Records, which issued Filthy Doorways and Kingdom of Champions in the winter of 2000. The Avenues EP surfaced three years later, reflecting a move away from the band’s punk-inflected origins toward a calmer, more trance-like approach echoing Grandaddy. Everyone Down Here, the full-length that followed, appeared that April, while Treble & Tremble arrived in 2004. Continuing its drift from post-punk beginnings, the group—led chiefly by Aaron Espinoza—delivered Mentor Tormentor in 2007, an album shaped sonically by Elliott Smith and anchored in chamber pop and lo-fi textures. Hymn and Her, released the following year, extended that expansive, atmospheric direction. After a several-year break spent on outside endeavors, among them the project Admiral Radley, Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray revived Earlimart with System Preferences in 2012.