Ash Wednesday (album)

Ash Wednesday
Studio album by
Elvis Perkins
Released2006 (Independent self-release)
February 20, 2007 (US)
July 9, 2007 (UK)
Recorded2006
GenreFolk-rock
Length50:52
LabelXL Recordings
ProducerEthan Gold
Elvis Perkins chronology
Ash Wednesday
(2006) 		Elvis Perkins in Dearland
(2009)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Guardian[2]
Pitchfork Media(7/10)[3]
PopMatters(8/10)[4]
Stylus Magazine(A-)[5]
Drowned in Sound(7/10)[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Skinny[8]

Ash Wednesday is the debut studio album by singer songwriter Elvis Perkins, released on February 20, 2007, on XL Recordings. It is a chronologically sequenced album of songs written before (Tracks 1 to 6) and after (Tracks 7 to 11) the death of his mother, who died on 9/11. In a 2009 interview, Perkins states that the album "[has] been made out to be bleaker than it really is, [...] there were moments of hopefulness on Ash Wednesday too."[9]

Regarding the album's title, Perkins states that it:

refers to being left on Wednesday with nothing but ash, because [my mother] died on a Tuesday – being left with ash on September 12. That was also the day my father died, September 12 [1992, of complications from AIDS]. It first occurred to me on Ash Wednesday itself – my consciousness was largely ruled by having lost my mother six months previously.[10]

"All the Night Without Love" was the lead single off the album; "Moon Woman II" appears on the Fast Food Nation soundtrack, and "While You Were Sleeping" was featured in a season 4 episode of The O.C.. The album was released on XL Records and includes backing vocals by Ariana Lenarsky, Shana Levy of indie band Let's Go Sailing, and others.

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ The Guardian review
  3. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  4. ^ PopMatters review
  5. ^ Stylus Magazine review
  6. ^ Drowned in Sound review
  7. ^ Rolling Stone review
  8. ^ The Skinny review
  9. ^ Feature by Paul Mitchell. (March 31, 2009). "Elvis Perkins: Checking out of Heartbreak Hotel?". The Skinny. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  10. ^ Caroline Sullivan (June 7, 2007). "All about my mother". The Guardian. London. Retrieved January 14, 2012.