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I was skeptical considering the shitty free bands typical of the old LES venue. But was pleasantly surprised to discover the delight of Elvis Perkins and his band "Elvis Perkins In Dearland."
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Elvis Perkins
Ash Wednesday
Play Ash Wednesday
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AMG Review of Ash Wednesday
Marisa Brown
All Music GuideSon of actor Anthony Perkins, who died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992, and photographer Berry Berenson, who was killed in the September 11 attacks, Elvis Perkins has plenty of material about which to write, and plenty, if he wanted, to make his debut, Ash Wednesday, a bleak affair. But while the album is certainly not uplifting, filling its 11 songs with their fair share of heartache and loneliness, Perkins avoids reveling in depression and instead follows the route that other singer/songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and Bob Dylan have put down before him, telling detail-driven stories of people and life ("...your cameras caught me crying as I left your gates/...your maintenance men, they caught our last embrace") rather than painful confessions. With a voice that hesitates between David Gray's and Thom Yorke's, he sings songs of desperation and reflection and love and sadness over strummed acoustic guitar chords and slow drums; he's earnest and afflicted but not verklempt, only occasionally rising into an affecting yet controlled cry. Instead, Perkins shows emotion in nuance. He's a careful, studied songwriter, relying on subtlety to convey his meaning, meaning that is revealed better -- almost counterintuitively -- when he breaks free from the man-with-guitar mold (found in the unmemorable "It's a Sad World After All") and flirts with more complex arrangements, like in the Rufus Wainwright-esque "Sleep Sandwich," which brings vibraphone, trumpet, tympani, and violin to Perkins' steel strings, and swells gently, pushing past folk into lightly orchestral pop. "While You Were Sleeping," the strongest track on the album, slowly adds instruments until the end is only distantly related to the beginning of the piece, and it's lyrically excellent, the singer moving in the A-section to the B-section; from talking to the sleeper to talking about himself ("I'll never catch up to you who sleeps so sound/My yawns are useless, my heart beats too loud") dropping into minor chords to complement the change, to highlight the sadness. But there's a kind of redemption in the face of the sorrow found on Ash Wednesday. "Come lay here beside me/And I'll fear no death/I'll give you my body/And I'll breathe your breath," Perkins sighs on the closer, "Good Friday." It's not an assurance of happiness, but it is an offer of hope, so that despite all that's happened, there's possibility for reprieve. Coming from a man who experienced so much before he hit thirty, this is probably as much an encouragement as we'll get, and that's got to be enough.
A Return to Luna Lounge
A Brave New World...
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Well this is sort of my second attempt at the wide-world of blogging. I won't claim to be a music guru, but I certainly am a music snob, a self proclaimed one at that. I'm going to use this blog as a way of giving you fine people a little insight into the anarchy that is my "musical tastes." I've had enough people express intrest in the obscure music I tend to discover, that i decided to crea...
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Losing My Mind? Neutral-Milk-style?
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I was just browsing new music in the folk section of iTunes when I stumbled across an album by this guy, Elvis Perkins, that just came out today. The first single is a song called "All the Night Without Love." So I previewed it and a couple of the other songs on the album and it all sounds really good. But the second I heard his voice, I immediately thought to myself, _this guy sounds ever so s...
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Moon Woman II
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A nice to go to sleep to, or wake up to.
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a good friday on a mediocre thursday
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since i will not be mogging tomorrow, i thought to give everyone a jump start. and if you haven't heard of elvis perkins, check out his ep "ash wednesday" he _does_ sound like who you think he sounds like ~there's a sweet treat in the comments~
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stay if you want, there is enough, sadness for the both of us
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that is just one marvelous line from this marvelous song. below elvis perkins according to wiki: (born 1975) is a folk-rock singer-songwriter. he is the son of actor anthony perkins and photographer berry berenson. *anthony perkins died of aids in the earl nineties and berry berenson died on one of the planes that hit the world trade center. listen to the titled song _ash wednesday_ with that ...
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Losing My Mind? Neutral-Milk-style?
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I was just browsing new music in the folk section of iTunes when I stumbled across an album by this guy, Elvis Perkins, that just came out today. The first single is a song called "All the Night Without Love." So I previewed it and a couple of the other songs on the album and it all sounds really good. But the second I heard his voice, I immediately thought to myself, _this guy sounds ever so s...
More >
A Brave New World...
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Artist:
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Well this is sort of my second attempt at the wide-world of blogging. I won't claim to be a music guru, but I certainly am a music snob, a self proclaimed one at that. I'm going to use this blog as a way of giving you fine people a little insight into the anarchy that is my "musical tastes." I've had enough people express intrest in the obscure music I tend to discover, that i decided to crea...
More >
A Return to Luna Lounge
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I was skeptical considering the shitty free bands typical of the old LES venue. But was pleasantly surprised to discover the delight of Elvis Perkins and his band "Elvis Perkins In Dearland."
More >
Elvis Perkins Is A Swell Songwriter
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Elvis Perkins is the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, who was apparently a big Elvis Presley fan. Perkins' debut album, Ash Wednesday, came out in February 2007 (I never claimed to be on top of everything). Katy recently gifted me the super-seriously excellent song "While You Were Sleeping," which is from said album. It's [...]
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Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Elvis Heads Out On Tour
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A little over a year ago, I introduced you to the musical stylings and the rather sad story of Elvis Perkins - whose somber debut Ash Wednesday was one of my Top Ten of ‘07. The singer-songwriter, who has been touring with his band In Dearland, recently put out their sophomore self-titled effort - Elvis [...]by Jeffrey Greenblatt Leave A Comment
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