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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshingly Different, 8 May 2007
I saw Elvis Perkins supporting Willy Mason in Liverpool a couple of nights ago, from his opening song "While you were Sleeping" it goes without saying I was very impressed. Reminiscent of Bob Dylan with perhaps some Van Morrison thrown in there this guy writes amazing music. Original, catchy tunes that seem to carry an ethereal sound to them that's addictive. Haunting and mysterious lyrics at times, sung beautifully by a great artist. Watch this space, this guy's going places.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A melancholy grower, 13 Aug 2007
Ash Wednesday , the debut album from Elvis Perkins is a very melancholy album .But given that his father the actor Anthony Perkins died of AIDS and his mother was aboard the plane that hit the first tower on 9/11 that's sort of understandable. I fear many potential listeners will be put off by it's morose surfaces and there is no denying that this is an album that requires concerted effort to come to terms with but stick around and it reveals a modern troubadour with songs , for the main part, worth investing some time in.
Elvis Perkins will invite comparisons with Bob Dylan , his voice has an evocative timbre worthy of the icon though he is a superior singer , while his feverishly strummed guitar recalls the mans earlier work. Others will chuck him in with the raft of more contemporary singer/songwriters but he has none of their mostly superficial glossiness and airy radio friendliness. The songs are mostly accompanied by chunky double bass but there is diversity here with strings, piano , trumpet , trombone, banjo, organ, tympani, glockenspiel and vibraphone popping up throughout the album. There are also some perceptible backing vocals , particularly on the contradictory sing-a-long of "May Day" and the excellent Tim Buckley like "All The Night Without Love".
Occasionally the music and the artists lyrical ambitiousness cross over into the slightly absurd and pretentious like on "Emiles Vietnam In The Sky" or it can be just plain dull like "It's Only Me" which is literally only him and his guitar. Mostly though it's solemnly compelling with the six minute "While You Were Sleeping" , the lugubrious lullaby "The Night And The Liquor" ,the eerie harmonium led drones of "Good Friday" that recalls Nico,s "The Marble Index" and the incremental sorrow of "Sleep Sandwich" standing out.
Ultimately despite the albums blue tinged moodiness it's a subtle cosmopolitan affair mixing the old style lyrical poetry of Dylan and Loudon Wainwright with the more effusive elegant styling's of a modern artists like Rufus Wainwright , though its never as camp and theatrical as him. It's still , like I mentioned, principally an album with muted grains of sorrow trickling through it's grooves. Give them awhile , though , and the songs percolate into your head and heart. Like the phoenix from the ashes this albums a real grower.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
My favourite album of 2007, 20 Feb 2009
This is album is beautiful, intense, often sad and sometimes funny. The lyrics are compelling and poetic, especially While You Were Sleeping where they twist and turn with almost every line. There are clear references to what's happened in Elvis Perkins' own life, hence the melancholy feel. But Emile's Vietnam (I think) has an optimistic view of the kind of bohemian heaven his parents may be enjoying now, and The Night And The Liquor is wistful and funny.
I thought the first six songs were great from the first listen, and they keep getting better - I would rate them 5+ and well worth the price of the album alone. The next five needed a few listens and while I like them a lot now, I would rate them 4 .
It's in a similar vein to music by Aimee Mann or Micheal Penn for me, if you like album this check out March by Michael Penn. Or visa versa :-)
But it ain't party music by any stretch
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