Elvis Perkins 'Ash Wednesday'

As every single review of this album will doubtless tell you, Elvis Perkins is the son of actor Anthony Perkins, who died of an AIDS related illness in 1992, while his mother Berry Berenson died on September 11th as she was on one of the planes that were flown into the World Trade Center.

Much of Perkins' debut album touches on the subject of death, as well as life after death but the tone is never sombre or mournful.

The real problem with this album is that the first three songs set a standard that it is almost impossible for him to maintain. 'While You Were Sleeping', the six minute long opener, is simply brilliant. It starts off quiet and acoustic but builds into something of an epic with an orchestral sound. Perkins' voice is a delight, you can never be sure where he is going to go next as he rejects standard singer-songwriter territory to let the emotion of the song carry him along. The lyric concerns the simple pleasure of waking up every morning to start a new day, while reflecting on a night of fearful dreams.

[ Anyone who's anyone,
Has that same dream.
Were you falling,
Were you flying,
Were you calling out,
Or were you dying?]

Its a wonderful opener.

'All the Night Without Love' which follows is almost as good. A violin-led upbeat pop song it maintains the album's momentum into 'May Day!' which is a joyful 70s stomper and a lot of fun.

Unfortunately Perkins can't quite keep up the momentum from here on. He falls into standard acoustic singer-songwriter territory on a couple of the more forgettable tracks ('Moon Woman II' and 'It's Only Me' and the album drifts off course in the middle.

It is not all bad news though; 'Emile's Vietnam in the Sky' is lovely and heartbreaking all at once while tracks like 'It's A Sad World After All' recalls the edginess of early Sparklehorse. 'Good Friday' closes the album on a high point and leaves the listener wondering which direction Perkins will take his music on next.

This is a really promising debut. He may well have been better off losing a couple of the mid-album songs and reducing the length of the album a bit because it does sometimes struggle to last the pace, but the highlights here make this album well worth checking out.

7.6