3 ...according to our Business Lady on 16 April 2009.
Casiotone for the painfully alone is the work of singer/songwriter Owen Ashworth and 'Vs. children' is his fifth studio album proper. The first thing I notice is the suspicious absence of Casio keyboards on the record. In fact I'm not hearing any electronic keyboard tones, what's up with that? I'm confused? Okay, so he's still tinkling the ivories but now we get proper piano and organ sounds and the songwriting seems to be maturing somewhat but no casio's!!! I'm not having that. So 'Vs. children' sounds like a country rock record sans the guitars and sounds far to mature for my liking. It kinda sounds like Jeffrey Lewis (i've just been reviewing the Junkyard record so i'm might be all muddled in my mind) due to the down to earth, self confessional songwriting approach and whimsical charm yet i prefer the lo-fi production of his earlier release's. Oh, i hear a casio (esq) electro beat on the excellently titled 'Man o' war'!! Ace. Don't abandon your namesake Mr. Ashworth, we like casiotone's!
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Sound clips for Vs Children by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Tomlab, TOM128CD, £10.09.
* Hot on the heels of the recently released singles and rarities compilation "Advance Base Battery life" comes Vs. Children, the fifth album proper by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone.
* Vs. Children continues the trajectory of 2006’s "Etiquette", which showed singer/songwriter Owen Ashworth straying from the strictly electronic instrumentation of his earlier recordings.In fact, Vs. Chilren is an album decidedly absent of the battery-powered keyboards of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s namesake.
* Instead, Vs. Children’s arrangements are built largely on the sounds of piano, organ, Mellotron, and acoustic percussion, both live and sampled. It’s like gospel music, if you can imagine that most of the choir has gone home for the evening and the church musical director is just really into samplers.
* Vs. Children was produced by Ashworth and long-time friend and collaborator Jason Quever (Papercuts) at Quever’s Pan American Studio in San Francisco, CA and Ashworth’s home studio in Chicago, IL. * Vs. Children features guest appearances from Quever, Julie Lispector (of the French electro-pop one-woman band Lispector, and two-time tour-mates The Donkeys.
* Tracklist: 1 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone vs Children 2. Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended at Ace Hardware in Libertyville, IL 3. Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In) 4.Natural Light 5. Traveling Salesman’s Young Wife Home Alone on Christmas in Montpelier, VT 6. Man O’ War 7. Northfield, MN 8. Killers Harsh The Herald Angels Sing 9. You Were Alone 10. White Jetta
