Either/Or
Released: 1997

Either/Or

by Elliott Smith

The 270th greatest album of all time

Either/Or (1997) finds Elliott Smith blending intimate acoustic folk with indie pop and rock touches. The songs feature fragile fingerpicked guitar, hushed multi-tracked vocals and concise, melancholic melodies, with slightly cleaner production and occasional electric instrumentation compared with his earlier lo-fi records. Its mix of spare arrangements and melodic songwriting helped define a quiet, confessional strand of 1990s indie folk.