Either/Or is Smith’s take on the Kierkegaard book of the same name, chronicling a fiery clash we can all surely relate to on some level, that being the battle between moral and aesthetical existence. It proves an astonishing backdrop for an album which builds upon his self-titled album by delving further into the abyss that his lo-fi but luxurious sound epitomizes and even developing a slightly stronger songwriting knack, made all the more startling by the strength of that preceding record.

Smith sounds pained on almost every twist of excruciating melody, vocals conjured up to highlight pain while numbing it, an intense doublethink head-rush of agonizing ecstasy over lovesick acoustics. Yes, he sounds out of love with life, and it’s little surprise that “Angeles” lends itself as a reluctant centrepiece, a story of a city overrun by a pursuit of hedonism which corrodes any sense of ethics. It and “Between The Bars” are the record’s bloody-teared masterstrokes.

The weariness of the thought of emotional genocide is apparent on Smith’s voice throughout, and though references to heartbreak and disease are inevitable, they also come off as providing a light kind of joy in being documented. The protagonist on “Alameda” seems delighted to inform somebody that they broke their own heart, while there is a consolation in pointing out that everybody is dying to get the disease on “Pictures Of Me”. There’s a warming sadomasochism to the brutality of life, yet the glorious shine of closer “Say Yes” seems to suggest that Smith has finally found somebody that he can take something positive from, and the album shuts on an unlikely happy note.

Whatever you take from the listening experience, Kurt Cobain has often been crowned the greatest songwriter of a generation. Here’s an album which begs to differ.

by Michael