Ash - Grey Will Fade

About "Grey Will Fade"

Grey Will Fade is the debut studio album by English musician Charlotte Hatherley, the guitarist for Ash, released by Double Dragon Music on 16 August 2004. Spurred on by the positive response to "Grey Will Fade", which appeared as a B-side to Ash's single "There's a Star" (2001), Hatherley set about recording her solo album. Enlisting the help of Eric Drew Feldman, the sessions for the album were happening concurrently in Los Angeles, California, at Wild Hamster, while Ash was recording their album Meltdown (2004). Described as a pop punk and power pop record, Hatherley's vocals on Grey Will Fade earned her comparisons to Björk, Tanya Donelly, and PJ Harvey.

Grey Will Fade received generally favourable reviews from critics, some of whom commented positively on the songwriting. The album charted at number 48 in Scotland and number 51 in the UK. "Summer" and "Bastardo" both reached a peak of number 31 on the UK Singles Chart. Despite Grey Will Fade being announced in early 2004, Hatherley was occupied touring with Ash to support Meltdown. The digital-only lead single, "Kim Wilde", was released on 7 June 2004, followed by the second single, "Summer", on 9 August 2004. While Ash took a break from touring, Hatherley went on her first solo tour in September 2004. "Bastardo" was released as the third single on 21 February 2005; Edgar White directed the video for this and "Summer".