Ash Wednesday (album)

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."

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."

"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"