Soon after several early titles of tracks surfaced on the band's official website, including "Survivor"—now titled "Ichiban", "Prypiat" which was written originally for Twilight of the Innocents, however wasn't finished in time to make the album, "Return of White Rabbit" which at the time Tim Wheeler supposedly joked about being their comeback single, "Nouvelle Adventures" which features both Tim and Mark on bass guitar, "No Face (Jesus Christ)", "Daedalus", as well as "Hospital Song" and "Lay Down Your Arms" which were both originally intended for Twilight of the Innocents.

[9] In NME, vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler stated "We wanted to be the first people to do it like this" also saying, "I think it'll be great for our fans waiting every two weeks knowing they're going to get a song and wondering what it'll be like.

[10] Bassist Mark Hamilton also spoke of the merits of releasing in an alternative way; "we thought we'd come up with a different model where we never really had to be actually be away, that might work better.

The front of each single simply shows the letter followed by the band's logo below, whilst on the back the track name is shown.

The opening to the series was a free download "Return of White Rabbit", released on 18 May 2009, promoting the track were three music videos, an animated one created by Big Button,[17] a home-made one — following the 'White Rabbit' around New York City,[18] and a live footage video, filmed by fans at Thekla in Bristol.

Those who feel duped / ripped off can get off their soapboxes, my heart bleeds for you... We're just past the 1/3 mark of the A–Z and the bonus tracks are only just starting to trickle out to subscribers.

The singles were each limited to 1000 copies and were each collectors' items; the complete vinyl subscription cost £130, or £140 including a special box to store them all in.

The vinyl subscription service was provided by Recordstore.co.uk, whilst other retailers would also be given a small number of the singles, to sell at each release.

[25] Steve Wheeler of Recordstore commented on the partnership with Ash as "being chosen by an innovative and popular band like Ash is testament to the quality service that Recordstore.co.uk provide forward-thinking labels and artists"[26] The band released two compilation CDs of the series: Volume 1 covered the letters A-M and Volume 2 the letters N-Z.

[27] Some fans criticized the band's choice to release a CD, pointing out its similarity to an album, but bassist Mark Hamilton responded that it was always their intention and it was about making the A–Z Series available for everyone.

and exclusively "Kamakura" and "Disenchanted" with the second disc featuring 14 remixes, acoustics and already digitally released B-sides "Lay Down Your Arms" and "Gallows Hill".

The documentary features interviews from Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray of Ash, as well as featuring BBC DJ Steve Lamacq, Emmy The Great & Ian Wright amongst others, as well as live performances on the A–Z tour of Spaceshot and Arcadia, acoustic performances, the final days of recording the A–Z Series in New York and behind the scenes at some of the TV, radio and other media appearances.

[32] During the course and after the A–Z tour the band released four short webisodes onto YouTube and NME.com, which acted as promotions for the complete documentary, featuring some footage that would be used in A Is For Ash, and some exclusive content.

[35] The first three radio singles from the A–Z Series—"Return of White Rabbit", "True Love 1980" and "Spaceshot"—were each accompanied by a digital EP—The Rehash EP and Space Reshot EP, both of which were collections of remixes by Snitch Brothers, Jaymo & Andy George, Pete Doyle, Timothy Allen, Loverush UK.

[38] The band worked with a number of directors and companies to produce music videos for the A–Z Series, a selection of the singles—the radio singles were given higher budgets for promotion and consequently the band worked with such people as Nico Jones on "Return of White Rabbit" and "Binary"[39]—who also directed the initial A–Z teaser trailer which previewed many of the upcoming singles.

[47] From 7 October 2009 Ash used NME.com to host a four-part web series of tour videos, directed by Josh Kletzkin.

"—which would then be judged by the band, with the winner receiving a rare "Return of White Rabbit" handmade promo CD.

[71] On the same tour the chance for local bands to support Ash was given—asking that those interested emailed a Myspace link and list of gigs previously played.

[102][103] The band announced a full UK tour soon after, scheduled from 13 May 2010 in Paris, France through Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Neuhausen ob Eck and Berlin in Germany, Oslo in Norway, Aarhus in Denmark, Vienna in Austria, Zurich in Switzerland, Brussels in Belgium and ending at Hurricane Festival in Scheeßel on 20 June 2010.

Parts of this tour were rescheduled, however the majority of dates were completely canceled, with the band citing personal reasons for this decision which they did not take lightly.

"[114] David Welsh of MusicOMH poked fun at the similarities between the conventional album of compilation, however was very positive of the release as a whole "Their subsequent fresh approach and retreat from the album formula appears to have reinvigorated the Downpatrick threesome with a new sense of purpose and, quite curiously, resulted in one of the best albums of their long and illustrious career"[112] Paul Brown at Drowned in Sound described the release format as "While they haven't quite reinvented the wheel with these songs, they have certainly pumped up its tyres and given it some shiny new hubcaps", speaking with praise of singles A ("True Love 1980") through till H ("Space Shot"); "So great are the high points of the collection that it's a shame that it starts to run out of steam slightly towards the end", yet with final single of the half M ("War with Me") he believed it "revives things at the death with a grand piano motif and yet another mega chorus".

[117] Phil Mongredien of Q magazine criticized the similarity between a compilation of singles and the conventional album, writing; "it's not obvious how this format differs from the peaks and troughs of a regular album, high points largely canceled out by the more workaday material", however noted the albums merits as "Arcadia" and "Joy Kicks Darkness",[115] Jon Bye of Gigwise.com was critical of the direction taken in some of the singles which use synthesizer parts advising the band to "stick to the rock and roll you're good at" however praised the synth laced "Arcadia", comparing it to Muse.

magazine rated the compilation of singles N-Z 4/5 praising "they've lost none of their melodic abrasive songwriting genius" recommending the highlights of the 2nd half to the series as "Sky Burial", "Binary" and "Physical World".

[124] As of December 2009 the vinyl subscription sold out, with only limited amounts of past and future singles available on the band's official website and other various stores.

a B-side released on A–Z Volume 1,[214] Pete Moses, James Levy and Eric Feigenbaum who provided backing vocals on "Return of White Rabbit" and "Ichiban", and later Emma-Lee Moss of Emmy The Great on an acoustic studio re-recording of single "D"–"Tracers".

[215][216] For 2009 live performances, many new tracks simply used a backing track, instead of enlisting another member, however the band had not ruled out either recruiting a completely new member, or reuniting with former guitarist Charlotte Hatherley in the future, with Tim stating "I do miss her as a friend on tour" as well as stating "It could be good to get someone in for extra guitar and keyboards and add some layers"[217] whilst Charlotte in interview with NME simply said it would be a "possibility in the future" and that her and Tim regularly talk despite her having left the band in 2006.

[220][221] On 16 March Russell Lissack was announced as the band's touring guitarist and synthesizer player for their tour dates in New York, Japan and the United Kingdom, Tim Wheeler stated on the band's website; "We first met at the South By South West in 2005, we'd heard he and Kele Okereke met when Russell was playing Ash songs at a party, so we've always felt that connection with him.