ELLIOTT SMITH: TEAR FUEL AT ITS FINEST
- La Lena
- Jun 20, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 28, 2024
The man who could make concrete weep.
Steven Paul Smith, better known by his alias Elliott Smith, was a singer-songwriter from Nebraska though spent much of his life and professional career in Portland. His music has been recognised world-wide alongside Radiohead and Jeff Buckley, as one of the most gut-wrenching artists with his distinctive melancholic sound. Although initially, at the beginning of his career in the mid-90s, he was a mere little-known indie artist, due to his award-nominated track Miss Misery in the Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting he became internationally acclaimed.
Elliott Smith appears to have this unique ability to reach directly into the hearts of millions of listeners each month and tear them apart so delicately that we still keep coming back for more. The entire Either/Or album has been for me personally, a staple in the indie music scene. With its hushed acoustic guitar recordings reminiscent of artists like Bob Dylan or The Kinks, Smith tackles heavy topics such as depression and substance abuse candidly, as Smith himself claimed, "I don't feel any sadder than anyone else I know". Many suggest that Smith spoke and sang honestly, honestly and simply, a painful honesty which is why many find solace for their hurt, in the hurt that his works depict.
Even after his untimely death, his music continues to speak to many. Though not known typically for his optimism, his track Say Yes is one of Smith's most critically acclaimed pieces despite it taking him only five minutes to write. He states that the song was, "insanely optimistic" as the male persona details how he adores experiencing the world through the perspective of his former girlfriend. However, it is perhaps the rawness and, as with the Velvet Underground, humanness that Elliott Smith conveys above all in Say Yes and his entire discography which makes his sound so painfully loved.
The croaks and cracks in his voice, the frail plucking of his guitar and the bittersweet harmonies lurking within his melodies are what make Elliott Smith the world's largest tear fuel supplier in my opinion. Even during his instrumentals, the unnerving tones bring goose bumps and launch an immediate sense of loss onto any listener. Therefore, I believe that Elliott Smith's music acts as a beacon to communities of the hurt, the lost and the suffering, with his unfortunate demise adding salt to the already gaping wound.
Take a listen:
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