Smith was known to go days at a time without sleeping. At the same time, Smith was interested in subverting the more pop-friendly sounds he had explored on XO and Figure 8. Where Smith had previously hidden heart-wrenching tales of sadness inside bright, catchy melodies, now he wanted to write songs where the music sounded as dark as the lyrics — which are some of the darkest he ever penned.
Even without the lyrics, the music is profoundly unsettling, its swirling, psychedelic arrangement rising and falling like a tide of black water. Coast to Coast. Elliott Smith. Let's Get Lost. Pretty Ugly Before. Don't Go Down. Strung Out Again. A Fond Farewell. King's Crossing. A Passing Feeling. The Last Hour. Shooting Star. Memory Lane. Little One. Release Date October 19, Introspection Autumn Reflection.
For whatever reason, Smith's happier moments have always felt a little meaner than his darkest. They're somehow more smirking and cruel, as if they'd been put in place as pure provocation. Even the lightest tracks here see the excellent "King's Crossing", or the barely-there "Memory Lane" are bogged down by their own sense of inevitability, or maybe by our own-- it's almost impossible not to judge From a Basement on the Hill without first acknowledging the complicated context of its release, cringing at its song titles, and promptly biting back presumptive words like "foreshadowing.
And perhaps surprisingly, From a Basement on the Hill is perfectly coherent and cohesive, without any sense of being slapped together from half-finished parts. The record even boasts a classic Smith opener, the booming and majestic "Coast to Coast", which swells in and out in a haze of guitar ping and found sound murmurs.
Jason Dee. Ryan Galbraith. Aaron W. Heather Stella. Brian Hart. Andy Goldfuss. Ruben Ramos. Thomas Holmes. Michael A Henry. Sean Sherman. Familiar Spirit. Daniel Curran. Luis Anaya. Purchasable with gift card. Sold Out. Coast To Coast Let's Get Lost
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