| Ash Wednesday | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Elvis Perkins |
| Cover: | Elvis Perkins Ash Wednesday Cover.jpg |
| 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 |
| Next Title: | Elvis Perkins in Dearland |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
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."[1]
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.[2]
"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.