Up until Gus Van Sant's 1997 film Good Will Hunting, Elliot Smith was but a fixture in Portland, Oregon's thriving music scene. When Van Sant asked Smith to use some of his music in the movie, the songwriter threw in a handful of new songs, among them Miss Misery, which manfully competed against Celine Dion and Trisha Yearwood in the Oscars' Best Original Song category. From relative obscurity to mainstream success, Elliot Smith has gone from being perceived as a slacker folkie to one of the smartest US songwriters around. His latest album, the excellent Figure 8, mixes his folkier concerns with classic 1960s Beach Boys and Beatles melodies, resulting in one of the most pop-oriented folk albums of recent times. Elliot Smith plays Dublin's Red Box tonight.
