Linda Smith Shares Cover Of Young Marble Giants' 'Salad Days'

A pioneer of the home recording movement, Linda Smith released several collections of delicate, bewitching solo music on cassette in the 1980s and ‘90s. The 2021 release of Till Another Time: 1988-1996, Captured Tracks' compilation of Smith's work, has helped bestow rightful critical acclaim to the ahead-of-her-time artist.

Now, Captured Tracks dives deeper into Smith's catalog with the release of two full-length companion albums, Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring, available for the first time on vinyl & streaming formats on March 1, 2024.

Recorded at Smith's home in Baltimore in 1995, Nothing Else Matters chronicles the tension between the mundanity of daily life and the creative impulse: ”I was working for Ringling Bros at their corporate headquarters in Northern VA and driving there and back to Baltimore on the DC beltway,” Smith remembers.

“I aimed for detachment and some degree of humor in order to see things more clearly.” Traffic noises on the charmingly boisterous “Little To Be Won” showcase this levity, as does the addition of playful hand claps and a laugh track to her striking cover of Young Marble Giants' “Salad Days,” which has been made available as a single to accompany the announcement with a visualizer.

Despite its homespun inception, the arrangements are sophisticated, as in the bright, percussive opener “The Answer To Your Question.” This complexity is also reflective of Smith's evolving recording techniques-having outgrown her 4-track tape machine, she'd purchased a Fostex 8-track, on which she recorded both Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring.

I So Liked Spring, recorded the following year, is equally sophisticated in content, and saw Smith experimenting with the unique challenge of putting another artist's words to music. She'd come across a biography of the English poet Charlotte Mew and found her wistful poetry rife for musical interpretation.

“[The] poems offered a new challenge in how to structure a song,” Smith explains. “There were no obvious verses and choruses, and this meant that I had to find another way to put together melody and rhythm based on the lines of the poems.” As a result, the songson I So Liked Spring are delightfully unpredictable, full of upbeat melodies and spellbinding vocal harmonies. This is perhaps best showcased on the title track, one of Smith's most popular songs to date, a lovelorn anthem that recalls the airy melodies of early dream pop.

Both of these albums showcase the mesmerizing charm of Smith's songwriting, often compared to the likes of the Velvet Underground and Laurie Anderson. What unites these artists' work above all is an avant-garde sensibility, and as such, Smith's catalog continues to resonate with new listeners nearly 30 years later.

Home recording technology has come a long way since Smith first began recording demos on her tape machine, but her influence reverberates through the work of today's bedroom artists. The release of these two essential albums seeks to further illuminate this connection, welcoming a new generation of listeners to the work of this trailblazing artist.

photo by Peggy Bitzer