Elliott Smith’s XO Met His Moment with Pop Perfection
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Following a compelling artistic arc album by album is perhaps, at least for music nerds, the strongest evidence there is for predetermination. Some stories are so perfect they must have been fated to be all along: The Beatles’ transformation from the mop-headed fab four to bearded artistic trailblazers, Radiohead’s journey from “Creep” to Kid A and beyond, or Elliott Smith’s transformation from reserved indie hero to pop perfectionist. Charting out Smith’s story, one record jumps out as the line in the sand, the marker of his metamorphosis – XO. Turning 25 this year (on August 25th), the album captures a fleeting moment of Smith’s noticeable but logical change in 14 perfectly constructed, emotional songs.
The first leg of Smith’s solo career saw the artist penning beautifully depressive acoustic ballads that often featured little more than his signature double-tracked guitars and vocals. Recorded at friends’ houses, basements, or wherever else was available at the time, Roman Candle and his self-titled effort showcased an artist who could capture the essence of melancholy in melody like no one else. Then came Either/Or, a perfect realization of everything he had been building to since singing his first whispered verse.
Either/Or would prove to be Smith’s last statement as an underground, underfunded troubadour. Called up to the majors, XO came with a bigger budget, a bigger profile (the use of “Miss Misery” in Good Will Hunting had made the anxious songwriter a surprise star), and a bigger sound. Smith must have been conscious of this all, as opener “Sweet Adeline” seems meticulously designed to ease those familiar with his previous work into his new era. What starts as a classic Smith track — simply him and his six-string — suddenly bursts open with drums, piano, and full orchestration 90 seconds in.
The rest of the record follows suit, building upon the sensitive appeal of his songwriting with a host of new bells and whistles. Songs like “Bled White,” “Amnity,” and “A Question Mark” – in comparison to, say, “Needle in the Hay” or “Between the Bars” – might as well be raucous rockers fit for Elvis Costello (one of Smith’s heroes). “Oh Well, OK” and “Waltz No. 1” find Smith dramatizing his emotionality with the backing of luscious strings, while “Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands” and “Waltz, No. 2” are about as close as anyone has ever gotten to achieving Beatles-level pop divinity. In particular, the latter stands as one of Smith’s most heralded compositions – and for damn good reason, as the tune holds a tight grip on your heart while somehow managing to force your hips to swing.
Thus, the story of XO, a record that served as Smith’s commercial level-up and the bridge between his first leg of records and the pop excellence of Figure 8.
Except, of course, reality isn’t as clean as scrolling through an artist’s discography on Spotify. This narrative of minimalist-to-maximalist, while capturing plenty of truth and making for an engaging tale, ignores massive aspects of the story of Elliot Smith.
For starters, Smith didn’t begin his artistic career crafting songs as soft, sweet, and immediate as “No Name #3” or “Say Yes.” As early as high school, Smith was rocking out with his friends, making loud noises and experimenting with convention, as alternatively-inclined kids have done for ages. Then, there’s Heatmiser, Smith’s indie/alternative, “folk-grunge” band that immediately predated and even overlapped with his solo career. Tracks like “Antonio Carlos Jobim,” “Dirt,” or “Get Lucky” are more than enough proof that Smith had the capacity to front songs with greater dynamics and greater volume all along.
Then, there’s the fact that XO wasn’t the genesis of Smith’s rising notoriety, but rather the project he happened to be working on while the spotlight finally found him. His songs’ prominent role in Good Will Hunting and his subsequent Oscars nomination/performance had already brought him into the limelight — if somewhat reluctantly. It wasn’t the cleanest of ascents, as Smith battled stage fright and self-doubt, and, according to some publications from the time, the growing mainstream attention even brought along a certain level of backlash from the underground community.
Finally, there’s the factor of Smith’s deteriorating mental health. Even as Smith’s songs brightened up (at least sonically), his struggles were growing ever darker as he dealt with addiction and thoughts of self-harm. Such tribulations would leave XO and its follow-up, Figure 8, as his last completed works.
XO was undoubtedly a transitional mark for Smith, but the alluring narrative of it being a sea change for him as an artist might be doing the album (and his previous work) a slight disservice. Perhaps it’s less of an unexpected leap brought on by an elevated profile and more of a pendulum swinging back in a slightly skewed direction, marrying the powerful, barebones artistry he’d honed on his first solo albums with the adventurous nature of his old bands.
Either way, the songs of XO stand tall on their own, regardless of their context. You don’t need to have strong opinions on what came before or after the record to be swept up in the magic of a once-in-a-generation talent finally having the resources to realize some of his creative dreams. Inspired, passionate, and as impactful as any of his more somber efforts, XO is near perfect consolidation of Elliott Smith and the wondrous art he brought into the world.
Elliott Smith’s XO Met His Moment with Pop Perfection
Jonah Krueger
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