Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	A−
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
Mojo
NME	9/10
Pitchfork Media	7.2/10 (2004) 8.4/10 (2010)
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	A−

From a Basement on the Hill is the sixth and final studio album by the late American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Recorded between 2002 and 2003, it was released posthumously in the UK and Europe on Domino on October 18, 2004, and in the US the following day on October 19, 2004 through record label ANTI-.

The album was initially planned as a double album, due to contractual obligations with the DreamWorks label (now Interscope), and was incomplete at the time of Smith's death. Many of the songs Smith intended for the album remained unfinished, in some cases only lacking vocals. Smith's family hired his former producer Rob Schnapf and ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme to sort through and put the finishing touches on the batch of over thirty songs that were recorded for the album, although the estate retained final decision of which tracks to include. Thus, a fifteen-track album was assembled and released.

Many of the songs reference Smith's lifelong struggles with drug addiction and depression. His death was presumed to be a suicide, although the coroner's report and statements from close friends reveal that his death is still under speculation. It was not investigated further.

From a Basement on the Hill became Smith's highest-charting album in the US and was praised by critics, with reviewers complimenting the album's attempts to expand Smith's sound, such as the incorporation of instrumental passages, as well as heavier, guitar-based material.

On October 21, 2003, Elliott Smith died of two stab wounds, presumed by many to be self-inflicted. The wounds occurred following a heated argument at the Los Angeles home of his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. The coroner's determination was that the mode of death was undetermined and raised the possibility of homicide.

Smith battled heavy drug addiction and severe depression for most of his life, although he was sober in his final days, seeking treatment at the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills and even giving up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugars and most of his prescribed psychiatric medications on his 34th birthday. Smith took to sobriety with the same intensity with which he took to intoxication, and he found himself suddenly face-to-face with a lifetime of depression and unmanaged emotional trauma.

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Wikipedia