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How do you pay tribute to an artist as brilliant and singular as Elliott Smith? By assembling an impressive list of artists to interpret his work and make it their own. That is exactly the goal of the newly released Say Yes! A Tribute to Elliott Smith, which features appearances from the likes of J Mascis, Julien Baker, and Waxahatchee. It’s an eclectic mix of Smith songs, and a painful reminder that he’s gone.
Many of the renditions on Say Yes! find artists trying to replicate Smith’s haunted, gentle harmonies, and though they all do a fine job, the standouts are the artists who took his songs and made them wholly their own. Wunderkind Julien Baker focused on the lyrics of “Ballad of Big Nothing”, slowing it down and howling it out in her own powerful way. You’ll almost forget you’re listening to an Elliott Smith song, as this selection would have fit in perfectly on Baker’s recent EP Sprained Ankle. The 21-year old immortalizes Smith magnificently, sounding genuinely affected by this heart-wrenching song. Smith’s version, from his third record Either/Or is far more upbeat, making Baker’s ballad version feel like she’s grieving.
Sun Kil Moon and Jesu team up to cover “Condor Ave” (off 1994’s Roman Candle), turning it into a dark, spoken word number, piercing and jarring. It grabs you from the first few notes and sucks you in, leaving you hanging on every lyric. It’s a fascinating take on Smith, and offers him up through a much different lens.
Tracks like Wild Sun’s “Easy Way Out” and Waxahatchee’s “Angeles” bring drama to Smith’s lyrics, the former swooning and romantic and the latter heavy and brooding. Escondido’s “Waltz #1” is similarly big in production, but dreamy and soaring. Tanya Donelly and Tomo Nakayama offer more literal takes on Smith, replicating his sound in their own way on “Between the Bars” and “Miss Misery” respectively. Both handle Smith’s soft introspection with the utmost care. Regardless of aesthetic, each artist’s personal connection to Smith’s songs comes across, and with such a rich canon to draw from, the songs on Say Yes! are a compelling bunch worthy of a listen.
