Elliot Smith: XO (1998)-Ethan Smith
Elliott Smith: XO (1998)
By Ethan Smith
XO marked a very important period in Elliott Smith’s career. He had switched to DreamWorks which would mark a stylistic change and give him his first taste of mainstream success (two of his songs hit the top 100 in the UK) after contributing some tracks to Good Will Hunting and playing “Miss Misery” at the Oscars. A funny thing about the Oscars was Elliott later told his then roommate Dorien that despite all the stars in the crowd and millions of people watching at home the only person he could see was Jack Nicholson sitting in front of him.
Because Elliott was now on DreamWorks this led to a much larger budget than he’d been working with before and a wider variety of instruments and songs. He showed a return to “Cupid’s Trick” in many ways with Amity. As well as introducing a piano waltz (sort of) with “Waltz #1” and just a straight Waltz with “Waltz #2”. He also introduced a Beatles’ “Getting Better”-esque “Baby Britain”, before closing with the beautiful acapella vocal harmonies of “I Didn’t Understand”. Despite the bigger production and almost entirely different sounds Elliott’s whispery, fragile and emotive vocals were still in place as well as his enigmatic and touching lyrics. The instrumentation was the change here. It was bolder and much more vibrant. With a sound he could never have achieved with just an acoustic guitar. It was a sound more like the 60s pop he was into, The Beatles, The Left Banke etc. Only, it was much more angular and modern. It was very much his own.
XO for a long time was my favorite Elliott Smith album and its still in the top three. It shows him stepping into brand new shoes but never taking off the old socks. Elliott proves that songwriters are indeed the soundtrack, illustrating every emotion and experience into a song. When it’s done well the result is an album like XO. It’s relatable, yet at times almost ethereal. Always stunningly beautiful.
Copyright C. 2008 Ethan Smith