Figure 8by Elliott Smith

This is probably my favorite album from Elliot. As a whole I like the atmosphere that the album creates which kind of makes me feel like I am at a bonfire but it's on an inner city street corner. This album is more ambitious than alot of the material that came before it because it features more instrumentation as well as dense arrangements that make the songs feel larger than life.

What is interesting about how Elliot approaches the music on this album is that it generally feels more upbeat and enthusiastic than alot of his work but it still retains that melancholy quality that makes his music great to begin with. It's almost as if this album has more bite and is even more sarcastic in a way. It's almost like Elliot responded to having more mainstream success by making an album that almost makes fun of the very ideas that make it what it is. In a way, Elliot's sound is bigger and bolder than the prior releases but Elliot himself is staying the same. It's like the whole albums is happening around him and he carries on as if it wasnt.

What I also love about this is that it shows off a wide array of the musical influences that make Elliot's music so unique. There are notes of blues, pschyadelic rock, and and singer songwriter styles of writing throughout this album. The drums are also very definitive on this album and they tend to lean twords a modern rock flavor. But all of this is put together in such a casual manner as if they didn't wanna make a big fuss about it. it's like the album itself is a representation of casual apathy twords the world at large.

This album really grabs you and doesn't let go until you heard it out and given it the chance to say it's peace.