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Each are indicative of his warmer side - as daunting as it may have been to foray into Smith’s music, the intricacies are discovered tenfold by those patient enough. In the same vein, “Ballad of Big Nothing,” “Between the Bars,” and “Punch and Judy” are unconventional pop songs, ranging from boisterous, to vacant balladry, to melodious tranquility. The Beatles influence shows through in a compound of angular melodies and angelic vocals, particularly on the second track, “Alameda,” which pairs an earworm guitar lead with his airy, cascading vocals. It’s a chilling listen that never loses its impact.Īs was the case with much of his solo work, Either/Or is very much a practice in subtlety - the self-layered harmonies are more prominent than on Roman Candle and on Elliott Smith. On “Angeles,” his airy vocals draw the listener in, but it is the eerie fingerpicked guitar that provides the track with its vintage poignancy. The latter is seminal not only for its thematic impact and lyrical brilliance, but also for Smith’s most underrated asset - his crafty guitar play. On “Pictures of Me,” “everyone is dying just to get the disease,” while on “Angeles,” shrugs of “well, this is how it is” are picked apart, line after line. Either/Or wades into the same depths while simultaneously launching a full-fledged assault on the evils of the music industry. Its predecessor Elliott Smith was perhaps the truest to Smith’s emotional well-being - “Southern Belle” detailed his step-father’s abuse of his mother “St Ides Heaven” his over-reliance on substance abuse to distort reality and “The Biggest Lie” served as a paradoxical struggle for liberation. Smith thrived for three consecutive records in a desolate, yet oddly intimate atmosphere, and by the time Either/Or was released in 1997, he had mastered his craft. Smith’s surface-level inaccessibility painted an ordinary, albeit damaged individual in an almost legendary light, though the luminous, sometimes grandiose arrangement of XO and Figure 8 would later level some of those barriers. It is with this measured that “No Name #1” seemed as though it was a bizarre introduction to Elliott Smith, but the desire to isolate, to “ go home and live with your pain,” was, in the moment, ideal. The production only added to his mystique, though his apparent inaccessibility did not necessarily translate to new listeners. Smith, especially considering his opening three solo records, was an insular figure - layering his own vocals over a solitary guitar, and buried under rough production. In these circumstances, it is always better to be surrounded with people, but the inclination always surfaces to isolate - it’s more comfortable than talking about something traumatic. The wispy “No Name #1” was the next track up, a staple in Elliott Smith’s debut record.
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It was days after the astonishing death of my friend - an empty, drained sentiment washing over me and a new playlist in my ears. When I think back on the events of past autumns, one particular moment transports.
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The second 1997 record in Trusty Chords Music’s continuous nineties deep dive coverages on perhaps Elliott Smith’s most celebrated release, Either/Or.