Elvis Perkins writes thoughtful, poetic folk songs that have been winning him comparisons to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. His album Ash Wednesday is out now.
Elvis Perkins is one of the most exciting young musicians to arrive on the indie-folk scene in recent years.
Raised in New York and Los Angeles, he writes deeply introspective poem-like ballads. The subjects are often immense, but his astute use of details makes questions of life, death and love seem manageable, almost quaint.
What may be the most remarkable aspect of Perkins’ music is its inherent optimism and sense of hope. This is noteworthy simply because his personal story has been marked by such tragedy.
His father was the famous actor, Tony Perkins, who played Norman Bates in Psycho, and his mother was the renown photographer, Berry Berenson. The former died in 1992 from complications related to AIDS, and the latter died when she was on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Thankfully, Perkins has been able to channel his emotions into producing a brilliant freshman effort called Ash Wednesday, whichhit record store shelves last week.
Listen to a few tracks on Perkins’ MySpace page and see if his upcoming tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will be coming to your town.
Speaking of his tour, last week’s Folk101 article was on the new Grateful Dead live album. Perkins, like the Dead, permits concert-goers to record his shows and post them on the internet for others to enjoy.
Check out his archive of performances. You have the register, but it’s free and worth the small effort.
Finally, if you would like to hear more from Mr. Perkins, NPR has had him in the studio twice in recent months, where he played a few tunes and chatted about the album. In the second interview, he discusses how the album is in chronological order, reflecting both the order the songs were written and the ideas and events that they recount.
Folk101 is still waiting for our review copy to arrive, so no word yet as to when our review will be posted. Until then, look up Perkins music and let us know what you think.
