Figure 8 (album)

Background

Initially titled Place Pigalle, Figure 8 was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles, Capitol Studios in Hollywood and Abbey Road Studios in London.

The title is thought to be taken from a song by Schoolhouse Rock!; Smith covered this song, but it did not make the final track listing. Regarding the album's title, Smith said this in a May 11, 2000 article in Boston Herald:

I liked the idea of a self-contained, endless pursuit of perfection. But I have a problem with perfection. I don't think perfection is very artful. But there's something I liked about the image of a skater going in this endless twisted circle that doesn't have any real endpoint. So the object is not to stop or arrive anywhere; it's just to make this thing as beautiful as they can.

Smith described the songs on the album as "more fragmented and dreamlike". With Figure 8, Smith attempted to create "a happy-sounding record".

Producer and friend, David McConnell, later recounts Elliott's re-telling of a psychotic episode during the recording of the album, saying:

“Elliott told me about having a psychotic episode while he was [recording Figure 8]. He was fed up with the current state of his life. A lot of people from the label were telling him he needed to get it together. He was so sick of people talking about the future. So he carved the word ‘now’ into his arm with a knife. And he sat down at the piano and wrote ‘Everything Means Nothing to Me’ as the blood was dripping down his arm.”

Cover photo

The wall Smith stands in front of in Autumn de Wilde's photograph on the cover of the album exists in Los Angeles, and since his death it has become a memorial to him. It is located at 4334 W. Sunset Boulevard, which is a store by the name of Solutions Audio-Video Repair, just east of the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Fountain Avenue. It has at some stages been covered with written messages containing lyrics and personal messages to Smith, as well as displaying a stencil of Smith in order to mimic the photo on the album cover. It is regularly graffiti-ed over, followed by regular restorations from fans.

Release

The album's first single, "Happiness", was released on February 8, 2000. CMJ New Music Report wrote, "While the tune's production recalls the shimmer of XO, it possesses curiously upbeat energy atypical for Smith". This was followed by the album's second and final single, "Son of Sam", on April 11. A music video was released for "Son of Sam", directed by Autumn de Wilde.

Figure 8 was released on April 18. It peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200.

The Japanese release of this album included Smith's cover of The Beatles' song "Because" from the movie American Beauty and "Figure 8", an abridged cover of a Schoolhouse Rock! song.

The promotional CD for Figure 8 featured cover artwork by Mike Mills, director of Thumbsucker. Smith contributed songs to the Thumbsucker soundtrack.

Critical reception

Figure 8 was well received by critics. NME called it "Smith's best effort to date". Spin wrote, "The record is not a disappointment, it's a progression." The A.V. Club wrote, "Figure 8 is even better [than previous records], a strong collection of lush, densely arranged power-pop [...] and inimitably intimate ballads".

AllMusic was more critical, writing, "Even if it is a very impressive statement overall, Figure 8 isn't quite the masterpiece it wants to be". Pitchfork, too, opined, "Figure 8, ultimately, isn't as good a record as XO or Either/Or, though the man's not out of the picture yet." Trouser Press called it "a record that feels very different from its predecessors", describing its style as "brisk and busy, up front and confident, upbeat. While nothing here fails the consistent artistry of his work, neither does any of it make the direct connection to a soul and heart."

Legacy

In 2009, Pitchfork placed Figure 8 at number 190 on its list of the 200 greatest albums of the 2000s, noting, "Not quite as intimate as his earliest records and not quite brash and bombastic like its immediate predecessor, Figure 8 marks a subtle refinement of Smith's songwriting skills" and calling it "one of Smith's most accessible and enjoyable records". Rolling Stone placed it at number 42 on their list of the 100 greatest albums of the decade, calling it Smith's "haunted high-water mark". The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

All tracks written by Elliott Smith.