e_burrell's Full Review: Everyone Down Here [Digipak] by Earlimart
You may notice a departure from past exploits on Earlimart's new album "Everyone Down Here". That departure is energy - it's excitement, happiness. In the first line of the first tune, creator and vocalist Aaron Espinoza exclaims "We're so happy / so happy / it's been awhile / but we're so happy."
Espinoza's songwriting has improved exponentially since Earlimart's "The Avenues EP" (January 2003), or, perhaps more fairly, grown. Songs that used to plod along - a few chords and little melody - have turned into grander beings. "The Movies" has an early seventies George Harrison feel to it. Forward falling guitar strums, minor chords and haunting lyrics like "Now we're lost here / lost at sea / faded pictures and me / with hearts made of stone / and feet that cannot run."
The crackling energy, buzzing guitars and pounding drums of "Lost at Sea" and "Burning The Cow" and their distinctive sound cannot be mistaken. Jason Lytle (founder of the band Grandaddy) co-produces, and his patent sound is stamped all over this album. So much so, that many might dismiss Earlimart as rip-off artists. There's so much more to be found just under the surface of "Everyone Down Here" though, and and to shrug them off would be an unfortunate mistake.
Sticking squarely in the Earlimart (and Grandaddy) tradition, Espinoza's lyrics look almost inane on paper, but seem to make more sense in the context of the tune. Throwaway lyrics become essential, and much like contemporary Badly Drawn Boy, Espinoza can turn a pretty lyric into something much darker than expected. "Lazy Feet 23" is all about aging and forgetting the past and - though it sounds like theft from Elliot Smith - the dreamy production and slick guitar work near the end turn it into something both grandiose and wicked. Short version: It's one of the best tracks on the album.
Take your own interpretation from "Big Ol' Black" which is either a song about a failed love or a black plague virus that is wiping out mankind and will kill us all - or perhaps it's a little bit of both. It's a song that would make even Thom Yorke blush and cringe with anxiety.
"Big Ol' Black" sums up "Everyone Down Here" nicely. The album is a claustrophobic mess which occasionally swings out its fists, gnashes its teeth and thrashes about wildly screaming before calming out into an instant sedate stupor. It's sprawling. It's contained.
It turns out Espinoza and Earlimart aren't that happy after all. They falsely led us to believe that there was hope in their hearts before jumping down a winding path of despair. Fortunately, that path is worth the walk.
"Everyone Down Here" is as minimal as it is explosive. It's all about paradox. There are a few cons, but the biggest positive I can think of is that there's still bands and artists out there who are imaginative and daring. Badly Drawn Boy, Grandaddy, The Delgados, The Polyphonic Spree, The Flaming Lips - oh yeah, please add Earlimart to that esteemed list.
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