By Jesse Cataldo
Even before it’s release, From a Basement On The Hill was destined to be dissected; combed through and picked apart by hordes of amateur detectives searching for the clues to a tragic and unfortunate death.
Elliott Smith’s suicide in October of 2003 left scores of grieving fans and a slew of unanswered questions, and as is the case with any musical icon who dies by his own hand, the final album serves as both a last congress with the artist and the last chance for closure. Like Pink Moon or In Utero, Smith’s last recording remains as not only the concluding piece of a legacy, but as the musical equivalent of a suicide note.
In the lyrical autopsy that always occurs in these cases, it is no great challenge for the determined listener to dig up hidden references to misery or depression. Smith’s testaments, however, are far more blatant. In King’s Crossing, Smith states matter of factly “I can’t prepare for death any more than I already have.”
With the numerous references to suicide Smith places throughout the album, one would expect an ominous foreshadowing to pervade. Yet despite the often biting and moribund lyrical tone, the music is upbeat, even bouncy at points. “Coast to Coast” the album’s opener sets a brisk pace as it burst into a lively of mix crashing guitar and racing drums. “Memory Lane” carries a series of finger picked acoustic licks over Smith’s strained but still tortured vocals.
The songs for the most part are stripped of the sparseness of most of Smith’s earlier work, building on the heights he’d reached on 2000’s Figure 8.
As for the lyrics, Smith’s hintings seem far less significant considering the lyrical tone of his back catalog. Depression is nothing new for him, as the lingering dark cloud had followed him throughout his almost ten year career.
His music has always affected a somber, even sad feeling, and it seems less than coincidental that Smith’s “Needle In The Hay” was featured in The Royal Tenenbaums as the musical backing for a suicide attempt.
Overall, From a Basement On The Hill is less of a singular snapshot of a man on the edge of taking his own life than it is the final act in an almost Shakespearian tragedy which culminated with a knife to the heart.