Elvis Perkins Ash Wednesday by: Justin Pearsall Tue:10-Apr-07 Label: XL Year: 2007 WB rating 71 out of 100

Elvis Perkins’ debut album, Ash Wednesday, is a patchy affair. Perkins, a poetic lyricist, an intelligent songwriter, and the possessor of a warm voice, delivers some moments of true splendour on these 11 tracks. Undeniably the man is a talent, and when he hits the mark, Perkins shines as a disciple to folk luminaries such as Bert Jansch and a less kooky Neutral Milk Hotel.

But Ash Wednesday cannot sustain it’s cracking early pace, sagging in the middle as Perkins evokes Nick Drake influences in a poor low-tempo, droning homage that seems ill-fitting. This stagnant middle dilutes the strength of the opening and concluding songs, leaving the legacy of Ash Wednesday hanging precariously as either a good album or one that shows potential, but not a great release.

Opening with the nigh on six-and-a-half minute folk ballad of ‘While You Were Sleeping’, Perkins introduces us to an elegiac lyrical approach that dominates the album: “While you were sleeping/The babies grew the stars shined and the shadows moved/Time flew.” Perkins’ smooth articulation and the subtle layering of instrumentation – drums entering and building, trumpets augmenting – carries the repeated verses and is one of the album’s highlights. 

‘May Day’, the third track from Ash Wednesday, exhibits a more contemporary sound, with a chorus full of drunken ‘la’s’ (the use of this all-hands-on-deck choir is fast becoming a modern pop standard; see Old Man River’s ‘La’). While the song achieves its catchy purpose with a melody that circles your head regardless of invite, ‘May Day’ sounds like a million other things you are likely to hear.

As a whole the album draws upon on a number of influences, some reproduced more successfully than others, and while most tracks avoid direct association, there is a strong sense of familiarity that hangs over Ash Wednesday. For some listeners these associations will make the album a successful, easy listen. For others the songs will simply be a well-presented collection of old sounds, stale and worn.

‘Sleep Sandwich’ is the one track on the album where Perkins seems to rise above his influences; its innovative qualities making it an album standout. Far weightier than the other slow songs, which lull and blend so that they are hard to distinguish, ‘Sleep Sandwich’ has a dreamy quality which is punctuated by strings and a yearning vocal performance: “Once I learn these lines/
I will madly sing lullabies/Into the unborn fans you write the bible/And I'll read it off my eyelids.” Lifting his voice and building on the jazz and the epic-pop influences that are threatened throughout the record, ‘Sleep Sandwich’ is the sound of Perkins realising his artistic ambitions.

The freedom of rhyme in Perkins vocal delivery is undoubtedly linked to his love of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks – which is credited on the album’s bio as a touchstone for Perkins in the creation of his debut. While there are certain connections to Astral Weeks on Ash Wednesday, such as the use of similar instrumentation, the movement away from typical verse-chorus structures and the continued repetition of musical motifs, Perkins’ songs lack the improvised, free-flowing splendour of Astral Weeks.

This is not a direct criticism of Perkins, the thought out approach he employs works well – and few people, if any, can match the level of intensity that Morrison evokes without seeming self-indulgent – but comparisons to Astral Weeks are misplaced; the scope of Ash Wednesday is not significant enough to be considered in the same league as Morrison’s masterwork.

This shouldn’t worry Perkins. Because he is the possessor of a unique talent, he doesn’t need to try and be Morrison, or to emulate Nick Drake, as he has all the needed ability and skills to own a self-made sound. It is a shame that on Ash Wednesday Perkins has denied this, the presentation is great, the lyricism poetic, but rarely do we get an insight into who Elvis Perkins, the songwriter, is.