When I first met Brian Smith I didn't know who he was. I walked by him as he smoked long drags from his Cruella De Vil cigarette stick and I laughed. I merely saw a skinny boy smoking and thought to myself, "Wow, I love college - you never know what you will see."

Then I got to know Brian Smith.

He wandered into the first Oregon State Musician's Guild meeting in the fall and expressed his love for music in the most socially awkward manner I had ever experienced, which made me laugh, again. I promptly went home and looked up his MySpace like he asked me to, and I was blown away. As I heard each simple strum from his acoustic guitar I progressively became a believer in Brian Smith.

No, Smith isn't starting a cult. However, one would be surprised when they look at the support and following this freshman in zoology has going for him.

Straight out of the mean streets of Illinois to Oregon at the age of three, Smith has been writing, orchestrating and producing his own music for more than four years. In this span, he has surfaced two full-length albums, the latest of which is "New Songs From a New Home," which contains 25 songs he wrote and recorded in his dorm room in Poling in one month.

"I think I went crazy working on that one," Smith said.

The newest full-length "And We Packed Up Our Bags To Discover New Lands Under New Identities After Leaving Our Past Behind," contains 18 tracks, which Smith noted he took more time on compared to the first album. It was completed in June 2008.

Smith was recently signed onto Nebraska indie label Series Two Records after a representative listened to tracks from the "And We Packed Up Our Bags" album that has received major airplay on his MySpace page.

Series Two Records will be re-releasing Smith's two full-length albums as well as an EP Smith holds dear to his heart.

"Songs From The Heart of My Heart in the Heart of Texas" was written when Smith took a trip by himself to Texas to visit family. While there, he wrote six songs and recorded them immediately when he returned from the trip.

One may notice the lengthy album titles Smith uses when naming his albums. He describes this as his relating the albums to something he is going through at the time he is writing the album. With this, one will also notice the crafty, poignant and sometimes tongue-in-cheek lyrics Smith produces on his albums. This is something he takes very seriously. As is evident on his song, "February 9, 1989," where he honestly and bluntly tells the story of two of his friends who were born on the same day who have since passed away: "Two of my friends were born on this day/ Now two of my friends have gone to their grave." It's a haunting song that will urge anyone who hears it not to take his loved ones for granted.

"For me, its all about the lyrics, that's why I have strayed away from Top 40 music. I don't even remember the last time I listened to the radio," he said.

It is evident that there are no shreds of Top 40 in Smith's music whatsoever, what with the simplistic acoustic song structures coupled with a grab-bag of noise makers to accent the ambience of his atmospheric productions.

"Lyrics always have to come from the heart," Smith said. "If you write a bunch of words on a paper it comes out like shit."

Smith, who draws his influences from early Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Daniel Johnston, Devendra Banhart and Jordan O'Jordan, is no stranger to the folk genre or the ever-increasing passion to continue writing music.

Over winter break, Smith took it upon himself to write and record a song for 50 of his best friends.

"I didn't even get to finish the project," Smith said, "I finished with 38 songs from my list of 50. But winter term came to an end and so did the project."

"When you have so much quantity, the quality tends to go down," Smith said, reflecting on the experience of writing the songs for his friends. This doesn't get him down in the least, as he has become more than accustomed to recording all of his songs simply with one microphone connected to his computer and a garageband program.

He continued to discuss that the highest number of songs he recorded in one day during the break was 12.

"It snowed a lot that day and I was at a friend's house, so I decided just to record a bunch of the songs I had written," Smith said. "Then I drove home, without chains on my car."

Some may think Brian Smith lives on the edge - I do - but he learned something from this snowy experience.

"I found out that when there is snow on the ground there are no traffic laws," he laughs, "'Oh, sorry officer, I couldn't stop at that stop sign, I am being cautious.'"

Being the thrill-seeker that he is, Smith realizes that music may not necessarily be the way he brings home the bread in his household, but he would love to consider it an easy escape from reality.

"I am not going to bank on music, but if I could I would do nothing but music so I can wake up at 2 p.m. and just write more songs," he said.

"Maybe I am finding the easy way out of life. If music is in fact my scapegoat out of the real world, I'll take it."

Smith cites his older brother, Bobby, also a musician, as his pinnacle to aspire to.

"We bounce ideas off of each other," Smith said. "He teaches me to stray away from the basic song structures that come with most general songs."

This is quite evident on Smith's "And We Packed Up Our Bags" album, as he seamlessly melds his ominously-layered vocals over finger-strummed acoustics that manifest a musical stream of consciousness unheard of from any local artist around. From the smooth-operating sounds of "Train Down South," to the sandstorm feel you get from each listen to "Hello, Are You Out There?" Smith consistently seduces his audience with a soft, gentle and soothing tone of voice and his straightforward instrumentation, which often includes a banjo, tambourines and truly anything else he can find lying at his feet.

For example, at the end of "Love, The Tango," listeners can hear both the sounds of a spray bottle and nearly $50 worth of change falling to the floor, creating a transition between tracks on the record.

"Generally I can't go without writing new material," Smith said. "I have been completing around four songs a week, but when I was doing a song for all of my friends, it was more like five songs a day."

The album's fluency is undeniable as Smith presents a world for the listener that is continually developed through the voyeuristic-style in which he recorded it. Obviously un-mastered, the songs create a presence of their own while still holding true to the tone and story Smith intended to tell.

The only issue I have with the album is found in the form of a transition mishap in the middle of "The Wait," but in the spirit of Smith's disclaimer, I can forgive him.

"Don't put your expectations very high, that's my advice," Smith said.

My personal favorite song on the album would have to be "Creation Destruction," where Smith states "I'm not out to change the world, cause we already did that/ I just want it back to how it used to be." With such a powerful statement as this, I can see how Series Two would want a piece of this man-myth, Brian Smith.

Smith admits to having a couple side projects where he vents his less-serious material. Through the mediums Space Rape and Krusty Dz, Smith has written, alongside a few of his friends, songs that hold no verifiable truths of influence - they are just songs.

Smith is hard at work on his next album, which he expects to title, "Hearts May Hurt, But All Things Mend In Time," in keeping with his trend of album titles.

He anticipates putting together his first road trip tour this summer as he sets out to play the first annual Nebraska Pop Festival. Smith will also be performing on March 13 as apart of the OSMG's Pre-Exam Jam V.

Smith's albums are available on iTunes, and you can hear his music on his MySpace, www.myspace.com/themusicofbriansmith.

Craig Bidiman

diversions@dailybarometer.com