Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday (XL Recordings, 2007)

When I first heard Ash Wednesday's opening track, While You Were Sleeping, on KEXP (www.kexp.org) early last year, I was instantly enamoured with its lilting melody and its infectious, rambling, sing-a-long quality. I henceforth spent the remainder of 2006, eagerly anticipating the release of the album (Ash Wednesday), as Perkins toured the U.S. with the likes of My Morning Jacket and my personal favorites, Okkervil River. Much to my delight, when the album was released in February, 2007, I found that While You Were Sleeping was by no means exceptional in its greatness, as there are a number of tracks on the album that are equal to, if not greater than, the album's opener.
Elvis Perkins has had his fair share of personal tragedy in his thirty-three years of living. His father - actor Anthony Perkins - died from complications related to AIDS in 1992, while his mother was aboard one of the planes that flew into the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. The title track of the album - Ash Wednesday - is a stirring meditation on that horrible day, performed by someone who has more right to speak of it than most, but does so in a way that is not overtly obvious, and all the more powerful for it.
As you may expect, the themes of love and loss are a constant throughout the songs on Ash Wednesday. However, Perkins does not allow himself to wallow in self-pity. His ruminations are transformed into wonderfully moving tracks such as All The Night Without Love, Moon Woman II and Sleep Sandwich, among others. This album is a fine example of an artist's ability to turn sadness into something beautiful.

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