Elliott Smith - Either/Or

Elliott Smith’s dreamy, longing voice sounds like it was recorded by the finest recording equipment in the middle of a mossy forest clearing. It’s got brown camper van vibes that I can neither explain nor ignore. Or maybe I can quantify it - it was recorded largely in Portland, Oregon, perhaps the campervan-iest city in the world.

The music is dainty and flowing, melancholy in a laid back way. From the lens of 2024, it plays like a precursor to the bedroom confessional pop that dominates the pop airwaves of today. I have mixed feelings about that genre/trait/musical classification myself, but there’s no denying that every generation needs some version of the “lonely person with an instrument and microphone” schtick.

From the roundup Greatest Albums of 1997.