Elliott Smith

I’m never content with my attempts at minimalism, so while 3hive can write such a description of Elliott Smith, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I attempted such a thing (and I’d be a plagiarist to boot).

While his first three albums featured largely acoustic songs with sparse accompaniment, the accompaniment on XO grew along with his budget, leading to Figure 8 which had a more diverse mix of songs – some slow songs that would fit on his older albums, and then the epic pop songs that wouldn’t. What all his albums have in common, however, is his extraordinary lyricism, a voice that gives new meaning to the word haunting, and instrumentation that is simplistic, yet unpredictable.

Considering we named the site after one of his albums, and you’re reading this blog because you like what we like (I’m assuming!), it is hereby decreed that you download Mr. Smith’s tunes, straight away. Since he’s into file sharing, I might as well direct you to this page that has an inordinate amount of demos and b-sides – I recommend starting with the “Basement II” Demos if you are unfamiliar with his work.

Downloads

From From A Basement On The Hill
Memory Lane (MP3, 3.5 MB)
Twilight (MP3, 6.1 MB)

From Either/Or
Between The Bars – (MP3, 2.1 MB)

From Some Songs
Some Song – (MP3, 2 MB)