Smithery Loves Company

10/19/1998 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Michael Moses

You can't read about Elliott Smith without running across phrases like "reclusive, tortured artiste" and "sad, haunting songs." As a result, there's a prevailing public image of Smith as some kind of brooding and brokenhearted waif-man perfect in his misery, a writer of beautiful melancholy music but not exactly the type of guy you want manning the phones at Suicide Prevention. Part of this perception can be chalked up to Smith's supposed indifference toward last year's Oscar nomination (one of his contributions to the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, "Miss Misery," received a nod for Best Original Song). While most entertainers would trade in their gold membership card at the Betty Ford Clinic for such an honor, the ever-so-low-key Smith downplayed the hoopla in typical fashion.

Says Smith, "Because I didn't jump up and down about it, a lot of people thought I didn't appreciate it. The truth of the matter is that I was in the studio trying to record my new record, but every morning I had to do a five- or 10-minute phone interview with people like USA Today who asked questions such as 'How does it feel to have your dream come true?' After a while, it started getting on my nerves and I found myself asking back, 'I don't know, whose dream are you talking about?' Yes, getting nominated was flattering, and being a part of it was kinda fun in its own way, but it was nothing more than that. I guess now everyone thinks I'm some kind of morose folk singer."

Well, you're probably thinking, you do play acoustic guitar and write lyrics like "Here's the silhouette/ The face always turned away/ The bleeding color gone to black/ Dying like the day" (from "Oh Well, Okay"), sooo....

"Folk singers usually have a clear point to their songs," explains the soft-spoken Smith. "And they usually involve a moralistic point about something you ought to do, or ought not to do, or about some injustice that's been done to somebody. I don't write like that."

What Smith does write, as is made abundantly clear on his new album and DreamWorks debut XO, are graceful and timeless passages, his emotionally naked words cushioned by lush orchestration and a voice that's both soothing and hypnotic. In gorgeous, cream-filled tunes like "Sweet Adeline," "Tomorrow Tomorrow" and "Waltz #2," Smith's hushed, gentle tone is absolutely riveting, his melancholy melodies not unlike the pretty misery of John Lennon's darker moments. Truth be told, there are moments during XO when you'd swear you're listening to some lost Lennon B-side from Rubber Soul or Abbey Road. It's all a far cry from the strained noise of Smith's former band, Heatmiser, a Portland act that barely achieved the kind of anonymous success insulated indie purists strive for.

As for the frustration of dealing with the press, Smith says, "I'm used to people writing nonsense about me. I've read stuff that said I was a junkie, that I was [Good Will Hunting actress] Minnie Driver's boyfriend and that [Good Will Hunting director] Gus Van Sant rescued me from playing coffeehouses. I don't know why people write the things that they do, but I can't do anything about it. Unfortunately, there's more of them than there are of me."