Ash Wednesday (album)

Ash Wednesday
Studio album by Elvis Perkins
Released	2006 (Independent self-release) February 20, 2007 (US) July 9, 2007 (UK)
Recorded	2006
Genre	Folk-rock
Length	50:52
Label	XL Recordings
Producer	Ethan Gold
Elvis Perkins chronology
Ash Wednesday (2006) Elvis Perkins in Dearland (2009)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
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.

Track listing

1. "While You Were Sleeping"
2. "All The Night Without Love"
3. "May Day!"
4. "Moon Woman II"
5. "It's Only Me"
6. "Emile's Vietnam in the Sky"
7. "Ash Wednesday"
8. "The Night & The Liquor"
9. "It's a Sad World After All"
10. "Sleep Sandwich"
11. "Good Friday"

Chart performance

Chart (2007)	Peak position
French Albums (SNEP)[11]	193

References

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.
11. "Lescharts.com – Elvis Perkins – Ash Wednesday". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 July 2024.