- Record Label: Tomlab
- Release Date: Mar 10, 2009
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Having released enough singles and compilation tracks to warrant a collection of them, Owen Ashworth pulls them together on the enjoyable Advance Base Battery Life, pure catnip for committed fans but not without interest to those unfamiliar with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's way around understated, enveloping electronic pop.
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Some of the more irregular numbers scream “demo” between their whisperings--think very early Arab Strap, midi beats in place of the crass Scottish semen puns--but overall it’s a solid little barometer, one or two cues offering insight into Casiotone’s current organic direction.
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Some patience and repeated plays will be needed to digest the concise, offbeat and scratchy melodies from this eccentric, bedroom electronic artist.
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It’s refreshing to hear his music decontextualised--without a wider narrative, or the restraint of having to make an album as a piece, it’s Ashworth’s songwriting that has to hold the collection together.
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They provide a helpful and--mostly--enjoyable overview of the scope of Ashworth's work.
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Just when you thought Chi-town loner Owen Ashworth couldn’t trump his previous four efforts in terms of schmindie obscurity, he goes and wheels out a bunch of twee reinterpretations of oldies and rarities.
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Though the expected tracks of washed-out vocals, shimmery keyboards, lonely drum machine thumps, and efficiently told tales of romantic disappointment abound, there are also surprises here....[But] Advance Base Battery Life is not likely to earn Ashworth many new fans.
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Advance Base Battery Life stands as a mostly enjoyable, if slightly disjointed, recap of Ashworth’s non-album singles.
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The odd bits and bobs typical of the 7-inch and B-side world manage to make Advance Base Battery Life a little more interesting than Owen Ashworth's previous work.
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Under The RadarAdvance Base Battery Life finds all the signature CFTPA attributes in display with the usual blankets of ambient electronics, tinny drum machines, a few synthetic strings, and Ashworth's genius monotone lyrical narratives about breakups, laundry mats, and just about every other mudane subject only Ashworth can make interesting. [Spring 2009, p.70]