Twilight of the Innocents

Twilight of the Innocents is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish rock band Ash. It was released on 2 July 2007, through Infectious Records. Following the departure of guitarist Charlotte Hatherley in early 2006, the band began recording their next album in New York City at Bang Studios, which they had leased from a friend of a friend. Frontman Tim Wheeler produced the recordings, with bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer McMurray acting as associate producers. Described as a pop and power pop album, Twilight of the Innocents placed emphasis on Hamilton's bass parts. Preceded by a UK tour in early 2007, "You Can't Have It All" was released as the lead single in April 2007. The second single "Polaris" appeared in mid June, prior to the album. The band promoted it with four consecutive shows at the Koko in London, before headlining the Rip Curl Boardmasters 07 festival, and appearing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. "End of the World" was released as the third single in September, which was followed by a UK. In 2008, the band toured Japan, played a one-off show in New York, performed at Download Festival, and headlined the Ben and Jerry's Sundae festival Twilight of the Innocents received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom commented highlighted the use of strings, and the band's consistent writing. The album peaked at number 26 in Ireland, and number 32 in the UK. All of the singles charted in the UK, with "You Can't Have It All" reaching the highest at number 16. Background and production Ash released their fourth studio album, Meltdown, in May 2004. To promote the album, the band went on headlining tours in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as supporting the Darkness and U2. A few months after the album's release, the band toyed with the idea of releasing an acoustic album as a stop-gap release until their next studio album, which they aimed to record by mid 2005. During 2005, frontman Tim Wheeler and bassist Mark Hamilton moved from London to New York City, while drummer Rick McMurray remained in Edinburgh, Scotland. For the rest of the year, Wheeler and Hamilton worked on new material for their next release.