‘XO’ Is Superbly Soft, With a Nicely Gritty Edge

**** ELLIOTT SMITH

“XO”

DreamWorks

Listening to Smith’s often downcast tales of dislocation and doubt, it’s not hard to place him physically in your imagination--say, the same seat at the end of the seedy bar that Tom Waits held down in years past.

In your mind, you can even picture Smith, a singer-songwriter with a wonderful ear for detail, listening to some of the same stories Waits heard. Troubled souls are never in short supply. There is, of course, the couple that gets into a shouting match each night only to fall into each other’s arms just before closing time.

We envision Smith in such a scene because his music has the worn edge of someone who is always on the emotional lam.

The tales in “XO” aren’t delivered with the vocal growl of Waits’ most extreme works. Instead, Smith’s whispery vocals remind you of the delicate folk style of early Paul Simon, while the melodies echo the melodic beauty of Simon and Paul McCartney.

“I got pictures, I just don’t see it anymore” is a typical Smith expression of disconnect, and there’s no mistaking the wound in the line. Yet the gentleness of his delivery throws you off. In a pop world normally divided into darkness or light, this is a strange mix that is at once gently comforting and jarring.

It’s a doubly affecting approach because Smith, after two sparse indie efforts, backs the songs with bright musical coloring that helps--in such tunes as “Waltz #2” and “Baby Britain”--to make the anguish in the tunes all that much harder to shake.

*

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