This guy's face and this guy's name are so unmemorable that I was instantly intrigued. I paid good money for this CD ($16.99 to be exact) and I can't believe how much I love it. This guy is the new rocker-poet in my heart: "He held his breath to hold her hand/to walk the stair steps in pairs/climbing up a slippery slope/I'm in love, love I hope" (from 'In The Lost and Found').

The music behind his cleverly placed words is mostly soft and mellow though at times he shamelessly leans toward the upbeat mellowness The Beatles famously mastered - 'Son of Sam' and 'Everything Reminds Me of Her' are perfect examples. He sings in a sort of hushed voice that borders on controlled tears in the throat and also no emotion whatsoever. He can stretch a note until it almost makes you nervous. And how he's able to sing and successfully squeeze so many words into one perfect line of verse is beyond me. On the song 'L.A.' this guy almost rocks out completely with some fancy hooks and unexpected power chords.
The guitar and piano players are the only musicians not credited, so I think this guy plays both. Pretty pretty git work on 'Somebody That I Used To Know' and 'Everything Reminds Me of Her', the latter being my favorite track off this CD. I also like 'Happiness' a lot. The last track, 'Bye', is a sort of warped-sounding piano composition that is just a little too hauntingly weird for me - especially at 3:30 in the morning, man. I can't help but imagine some sort of freaky circus clown ceremony when I hear it. Like, a 16 mm film short of clowns applying their thick and wicked face make-up, then playfully trotting around as they gather flowers in a field to take to a dead clown with a painted blue smile on his face. This fiendish instrumental creeps me the fuck out, man.
Elliot Smith definitely makes memorable music.

[I've yet to explore all his other albums but one other that I heard and liked is called 'XO']