Xo

After a trio of well-received indie releases, Portland troubadour Elliott Smith more than surpassed high expectations on this major label bow, producing an accomplished 1998 album that was widely hailed as one of the year’s best. It’s also a project that succeeds at a risky mission, pushing the singer/songwriter from the longstanding minimalist approach he’d developed as a solo musician toward the more expansive sonic possibilities a larger studio budget could offer. The approach allows Smith’s ‘60s pop fetish to blossom, effectively channeling considerable Brian Wilson spirit into the harmony-drenched “I Didn’t Understand” and Lennon-McCartney on “Baby Britain.” Yet the lush arrangements of that back-to-the-future approach never sacrifice the introspective muse of songs like “Waltz, No. 1” and the beautiful “Oh Well, OK,” instead allowing the singer to express himself with an often startling new musical vocabulary.