Elliott Smith - An Introduction

An Introduction from the late, great Elliott Smith is just that: a primer of sorts on modern alt-pop/folk songwriting, fourteen diverse tracks taken from Smith's rich catalog of seven studio albums. Looking back on his troubled life and career, haunted by the dark demons of drugs and depression, it's hard not to be moved by how Smith's ability to create hauntingly beautiful, harshly personal songs that you simply knew were coming from the depths of his soul. With a near-whisper of a voice, often multi-tracked with eerie results, Smith sang of both despair and hope, the bleakest truisms of his own life's tragic swings sung with a beguiling sweet gentleness.

From an early version of "Miss Misery",  the Academy Award-nominated song from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack that vaulted him into the spotlight to the classic "Needle In the Hay", featured in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tennenbaums, Smith's songs resonate anew with a raw and basic urgency at their core. The quintessential Smith style can be summed up in "Between the Bars" as the softness of his vocals turns a subdued acoustic waltz into a bittersweet lament: "Drink up, baby, stay up all night, The things you could do, you won't but you might, The potential you'll be that you'll never see..." An Introduction, streeting November 2 via Kill Rock Stars, will hopefully serve as both a career spanning retrospective for Elliott Smith and, as the title would indicate, a starting point for many in the discovery of an artist who's music continues to define the power of intimate songcraft.

Kill Rock Stars Label Site    Artist Site

Elliott Smith - "Between the Bars" (from the album An Introduction)

Elliott Smith - "Miss Misery" (from the album An Introduction)