Smith abused alcohol and drugs, while suffering from depression, and these topics often appear in his lyrics. In 2003, aged 34, he died in Los Angeles, California, from two stab wounds to the chest.[8] The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted.[9] At the time of his death, Smith was working on his sixth studio album, From a Basement on the Hill, which was posthumously completed and released in 2004.