Elliott Smith - Roman Candle (Review: Alex)

I decided to do this album first, simply because I fancied some acoustic music. I had never heard of Elliott Smith, but Matt's description of the album made it sound quite cool.

Itunes tells me that I' have now listened to this album 10 times. That's because I genuinely love it. In terms of acoustic music, I haven't heard anything expressley similar to this. His voice isn't powerful, and so everything is kept low-key. It's the most mellow thing I've listened to in ages. There isn't an emphasis on any aspect in particular, everything is kept simple and proportional to everything else.

A lot of acoustic stuff often just makes me feel a bit depressed, people like Damien Rice and David Ford spring to mind. Although this is lyrically quite dark, I don't get the same feeling at all. I suppose it's quite cathartic really; although I appreciate that he is singing about dark things, 'I wanna hurt it' in 'Roman Candle' for example, I keep feeling slightly uplifted by the whole thing. Maybe it's the way Smith addresses his songs. His vocal melodies are quiet, and there are rarely any dynamics in the music. Also the chord progressions are played in a way which doesn't lend itself to depressing music. 'No Name #4' is an example of this.

This album is really a big old paradox. It is clearly a very dark album. I only have to listen to 'Last Call' to tell me that. The guitar overlay is gives the song a sluggish feel, which contributes strongly to the mood of the song a s a whole. Smith rarely sticks to a set chord pattern. This is reflected in a few of the songs, and to me this expresses a lingering feel to the album. Smith's voice, I have decided, sort of reminds me of Conor Oberst, the guy from Bright Eyes, in its tone. I'm not sure why, I guess they both sound a bit nasal..

I was a bit suprised by 'Kiwi Maddog 20/20'. It sounded very different to a lot of the rest fot he album. It had a sort of surf instrumental kind of feel. Something like 'Surf Rider' by The Lively Ones (which, by the way, I wouldn't know if it wasn't in Pulp Fiction. I'm not that sad...)

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this album, and it fully deserves another 5/5 from me.