Elliott Smith's tragic death is seemingly unavoidable when talking about his music. It seems so interlinked with the subject matter of his songs that one must always connect the two; many of his lyrics seem to prophesize his untimely death, referencing his unhappiness and growing drug addiction, and it's this that seems to draw many people to Smith's music. In the same way people are fascinated with the likes of Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake and Ian Curtis, the beauty of a tragic story mixed with heartbreaking music is something that appears to just appeal to us.
Death can turn an artist into an instant icon, and we see this in people like James Dean, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. However, Smith was still relatively unknown to most people at the time of his death, and it was only the inclusion of several of his songs in the film "Good Will Hunting" and the subsequent Oscar nomination for his song "Miss Misery" that gave him any real publicity at all. Regardless of this, Smith was one of the best songwriters of his generation, and his six solo albums stand testament to this.
"New Moon" is a double album comprising of previously unreleased tracks recorded during 1994 to 1997, his time signed to Kill Rock Stars. Sonically the songs are in a similar vein to those found on his self titled album and Either/Or, generally consisting of occasionally double tracked vocals and gently strummed acoustic guitar. A few of the tracks feature drums but typically the songs consist of only a few tracks.
The music Smith writes is fundamentally perfect pop music, and we see this clearer in his later albums (Xo & Figure 8 especially) where he uses more instruments and strings to create great Beatle-esque pop, and what we have on "New Moon" is the early signs that this would be the direction he'd end up heading in. The cover of Big Star's "Thirteen" also shows us some of his influences, although the original is already quite intimate Smith's version is even more so. We also get an early version of arguably his most famous song "Miss Misery" which despite being a first draft still retains the spine of what the song would eventually become.
The songs are all of a consistent quality (as with his studio albums) and his sense of melody, his lyrics and the way he creates a dense sense of melancholy with his music are all done as well on here as on any of his other material. I get the feeling that his records were just a collection of his favorite most recent material, rather than extensively planned out. There is no "upbeat opener, slower 2nd track etc" which would explain why these tracks are so good, each one reminding us of his immense talent. Highlights include "High Times", which has great lyrics, and builds up so desperately that by its conclusion the listener is drained. "Looking Over My Shoulder" with its great hook, and the acoustic pop of "Big Decision" and "New Monkey". In fact, the worst part of this album in my opinion is the cover art, which compared to his other albums seems slightly out of place.
