Figure 8 is an important release in the Elliott Smith discography for a number of reasons: 1) It's the last record he released before his death, 2) It's his last release under his DreamWorks contract, 3) It's his most musically exploratory release , and 4) It's the last release before Smith's drug dependencies began to interfere with his music, rather than just influence it. For those of you who've never listened to an Elliott Smith album before, you're in for a real treat. He plays unfolky folk music. He plays unrockish rock music. He plays unpunk punk music. His approach to songwriting was guided by two major components: melody and mood. As such, it's not hard to hear the Beatles fan in him hanging out in the corner of almost every composition. Smith's lyrics really leaned more toward poetic than pop aesthetics, delivered in a whispery rasp that he developed during the later years with his previous band, Heatmiser. (If you do decide to wander into the Smith back catalog, be warned: Though Smith was a frontman for Heatmiser, his solo work bears little resemblance with that band's five releases, except for maybe Mic City Sons.) And while I have a special place in my heart for all of Elliott Smith's albums, Figure 8 is my favorite. It's a bit like saying that I love this orange more than that one, but there it is. Although sometimes criticized for being "too glossy", especially for a guy whose entire repertoire reveled in its rough-around-the-edges executions, Figure 8 seemed to capture a moment in time when Smith was working at expanding his sound with experimental abandon. Having just come off the huge popularity of X/O (which had followed an Oscar nomination for "Miss Misery" from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack), Smith intentionally nudged this new material in another direction. Swelling orchestrations, intricate chord progressions, and meticulous melodies make Figure 8 one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded. Like a modern-day Simon and Garfunkel humming harmonies with himself.
Highlights: "Son of Sam" and "Everything Means Nothing To Me"
