Elliott Smith: "XO" (DreamWorks)

Some weeks ago I received a copy of this American singer/ songwriter's 1997 album, Either/Or (Domino). It was a revelation. A heap of songs to die for, a quiet, almost whispered delivery and arrangements of such beguiling subtlety and simplicity that any discriminating listener was left with little option but to press "replay". On further investigation it transpired that this 28-year-old Dallas-born New York resident had shuffled into Dublin earlier in the summer for a reportedly stunning gig in a dockside bar and that he was about to launch his major label debut with XO, his fourth solo album. Appetite whetted, it was tracked down along with his two earlier, much rawer, Domino collections. The picture that emerges is of a remarkable songwriter, someone who has managed to combine an abundance of alienation, heartbreak and self-doubt into a sound of aching beauty. It was these qualities which led director Gus Van Sant to use his songs in the movie Good Will Hunting; which, in turn, led to this shy, downbeat character sloping out on to the stage at the Oscars. XO occasionally stretches beyond the intimacy of the Domino albums into more cavalier expression, but the melodic strength remains. Occasionally Smith's songs are redolent of his favourite band, The Beatles, but this is no Fab Four clone; the result is very much his own. Key songs to check out include the intriguing pop of Waltz #2 (XO) or Baby Britain, the intense fragments of Independence Day, the Lennon-ish Amity or the multi-voiced a cappella extravagance of the closing I Didn't Understand.

Joe Breen