Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Advance Base Battery Life

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 1 / 3 / 2009

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This collection of off cuts from one man music machine Owen Ashworth showcases perfectly the full range of his talents, even if sometimes he is not quite such a one man band as he used to be. From the pared down plaintive tunes that he started making with the tinny-sounding synths that gave this project its name, through to the more ambitious songs he has turned to of late, it is all on display here. As with some of Ashworth’s proper albums, 'Advance Base Battery Life' is something of a mixed bag, collecting as it does previous singles and compilation tracks. Fans of Casiotone… will surely enjoy the yearning ‘It’s a Crime’ which – even allowing for what sounds like proper instruments – harks back to the sound of his earliest material but with more clarity and less fuzz. Re-recorded favourites of the past such as ‘Holly Hobby’ also gain an extended lease of life in new showings here. ‘Old Panda Days’ is equally brilliant: a gorgeous, lilting pop song over perfectly matched driving drum noise. Newcomers to the Painfully Alone sound may be slightly perplexed at points though. The covers on show here are particularly variable. While Ashworth shines on ‘Streets of Philadelphia’, another Boss cover – ‘Born in the USA’ – is a mess, with the worst of his almost un-listenable static noise on show. And guest-vocalist Dear Nora’s take on Missy Elliott’s ‘Hot Boyz’ is just baffling. Other guest singers are also a mixed bunch. Nick Krgovich is excellent on the aforementioned ‘Old Panda Days’ but Jenny Herbison tends to drag Ashworth’s slow plaintiveness into twee territory. There is more than enough here to justify buying this, even if you are not a fan, just be prepared for some static along the way.

Track Listing:-

1 Old Panda Days (feat. Nicholas Krgovich)
2 Lesley Gore on the T.A.M.I. Show
3 White Corolla
4 White on White
5 Holly Hobby
6 Lonesome New Mexican Nights
7 The Only Way to Cry
8 It's a Crime
9 Missoula
10 Hot Boyz (feat. Dear Nora)
11 Born in the U.S.A. (feat. Concern)
12 Streets of Philadelphia (feat. Concern)
13 Graceland
14 Sunday St
15 Voice of the Hospital

Label Links:-

http://www.tomlab.com/
https://twitter.com/Tomlab
https://www.facebook.com/TomlabRecords

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