Serenading the Spirit of Someone You Love
In a compact set that packed a heartfelt wallop, L.A. band Earlimart wanted to serenade a love lost too soon. “It feels like Elliott’s spirit is here,” said singer Aaron Espinoza. He was talking about the late Elliott Smith, the soft-spoken singer-songwriter, friend, and muse who, according to Espinoza, used to “weird” the band out by standing front and center at their L.A. gigs back in the early aughts. Smith, who died in 2003, inspired the sound of Earlimart’s most well-known album, Treble and Tremble, released in 2004. That album conjured Smith in its whispered, resonant lyrics and mellowed-out vibes, the sound of soft-spoken indie rock shows that filled Spaceland and other intimate venues around Echo Park and Silverlake, where I’d see them play regularly back in the day.
