Album Reviews

Album Review: Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Elvis Perkins In Dearland (XL Recordings)

By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 6 April 2009

This dual purpose eponymous album acts as both Elvis Perkins In Dearland’s debut album as a collective, and the successor to Perkins’ acclaimed solo debut, ‘Ash Wednesday’. Here Elvis has not completely abandoned the delicate, melancholic quality of his compositions that once gained him a fine following, but it’s impossible to miss the fresh glimpses of joy dispersed throughout this record. No doubt it’s the injection of fresh talent in the shape of Brigham Brough, Wyndham Boylan-Garnett and Nick Kinsey that has lightened up camp Dearland. Their initial purpose was to flesh out ‘Ash Wednesday’ on live duty, but they appear to have stuck around for the foreseeable future. Elvis is captain of a recession friendly ship with the employment of the trio of multi-instrumentalists. The album bursts to life with the thud of the kick-drum and Elvis’ melodic wail battling it out for the title of alpha sound on the opening track ‘Shampoo’. Neither saw the Dylanesque harmonica coming, but when it came, it shot them straight down. The Dylan association on this alone may seem lazy, but further substantiation is woven throughout the album with Elvis’ lyric style often mirroring his natural ease with storytelling. This LP evokes the energetic big band live sound of the group, with the introspection of Ash Wednesday not venturing far beyond the odd morose lyric. One such remarkable instance is on the murkily atmospheric ‘I’ll Be Arriving’ which proves that Elvis is far from a one trick folk pony. Here, the poignant cracks in his vocals compliment the ominous trombone, offering up glorious gloom competition to rival whatever any of current influx of serial miserablists can throw at him. MB

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