Smith struggled with drug addiction, depression, and alcoholism issues throughout his life, leading to his untimely demise in 2003 over a suspected suicide (though no deciding verdict has been reached yet). His sound became instantly recognisable, as finger-picked acoustics, deft chord changes, a fragile vocal delivery, and confessional lyricism became the crucial components of his songwriting style. Rock at the time, but Elliott persevered, quickly developing a healthy following in the club and coffee shop circuits in Portland. In the era of loud and brash genres like grunge and Britpop, Smith stood out like a sore thumb with his music usually made up of just acoustic guitar and voice.
Smith’s first taste of success came with the first pair of releases from cult Portland indie outfit Heatmiser, but he remained a solo artist on the side and achieved greater success with his first two standalone records ‘Roman Candle’ and ‘Elliott Smith’. Though he always considered himself a ‘pop’ musician, Smith was one of the first successful proponents of the indie folk subgenre, spawning hundreds of hundreds of imitators who closely followed his emotive, intimate, and stripped-down take on 90s rock. XO is just one of those albums that has a broad appeal and has the ability to enrapture almost anybody who listens to it.Elliott Smith is a songwriter who changed music forever through bringing alternative rock and indie sounds into folk music. XO is one of those albums that I have continued to recommend people over the last few years, it has been a great stand-by gift for those people whom I am at a loss what to purchase, as it is always well received no matter what the individuals taste in music is like. Half the time just the curiosity of which tracks will leap out at me this time is enough reason for me to play this album. 2”, “Baby Britain” and “Bottle Up and Explode!” are hitting the spot with pin-point accuracy, but the next time I play XO it will be another group of tracks having the effect on me. XO is one of those albums where I have always struggled to pick favourite tracks, as they’re all great and different ones hit me every time I play it.
The production of XO is spot on, giving each instrument enough room to make their presence felt without any of them being overpowering or lacking impact. I’ve always loved his lyrics, I found his warm yet fragile voice soothing and he knew his way around a great tune. Just considering XO as an isolated release Elliott Smith is my favourite singer-songwriter of the late 90s. I picked up a single and was impressed enough by it to search out this album. Like most people, I became familiar with Elliott Smith following his appearance at the Oscars a few years back.
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