Mourning & Other Pleasantries

Mourning & Other Pleasantries is a Studio EP by American singer-songwriter/producer Alex Washington. It was released on 4 Febuary 2022 by Apathetic Records. The EP was an immediate success, holding the #1 spot on the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks.

Release & Reception
Following the widespread success of Washington's previous album, Optimism, many sources reported that Washington would be releasing a live album based on his December 2021 performance at O2 Academy Brixton. The album was expected to be released in time for Christmas, in conjunction with the release of "Dominoes", a single planned to help promote the album, as well as Emily Henning's hit film Liar. Washington changed course, choosing instead to spend the holidays with family.

Early in 2022, it was announced that Washington would instead release an eight track EP, which would detail the process of grieving the breakup of a relationship, from beginning to end. The EP was to feature Washington prominently, with every track written and produced by himself, with Washington's daughter Bette co-writing some tracks, and rising young rapper/singer/producer La'Shawn co-producing the EP. The album initially featured a duet with Darren Clarke, entitled Cold Comfort, which was an early favourite to be a future single.

Plans for the inclusion of the track were shelved after Clarke's controversial performance at the 2022 BRIT Awards, where the singer performed his upcoming single Living Life alongside dancers dressed as Nazis. "Cold Comfort" was pulled days before the album's release, and replaced with "All I See Is You", a track originally planned for release as the B-side to the EP's first single, "Losing'".

The hiccup was ultimately minor, as the album debuted at #1, and produced two #1 singles, selling to date over 800,000 units.

Tracklisting
All tracks written and produced by Alex Washington except where noted

Charts
Mourning & Other Pleasantries debuted at #1 on the UK albums chart. The album stayed at its peak for three weeks, before being replaced by Tiger's self-titled EP. Mourning... later returned to #1 following the success of second single You Thought in April 2022. To date, the EP has sold over 900,000 copies in the UK.