Casiotone for The Painfully Alone

Artist Bio

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is the musical alias of 28 year old American film school drop-out Owen Ashworth. Ashworth musicbegan making in 1997 after he realized that song-making was a far more cost-effective means of storytelling than film-making.

The first three Casiotone for the Painfully Alone albums were made using only battery operated keyboards and electronics recorded to 4-track cassette. With 1999′s Answering Machine Music, 2001′s Pocket Symphonies for Lonesome Subway Cars (now collected onto one CD), and 2003′s Twinkle Emcho, Ashworth defined a hybrid strain of raw, emotional, and very homemade synth pop that was instantly recognizable as his own. Claustrophobic two-minute character studies shuddered with reverbed beats, blown-out chords, and siple but infectous melodies, all layered beneath Ashworth’s sometimes funny but always heartbreaking lyrics.

Believing he had taken his self-imposed set of limitations to their logical conclusion, Ashworth expanded his sound with 2006′s Etiquette.  Etiquette removes the focus from a decidedly utilitarlian aesthetic to a broader production spectrum that finally gives Ashworth’s personal, affecting song writing the space it deserves. In collaboration with producers and musicians like Jherek Biscoff (of The Dead Science and Degenerate Art Ensemble) and Jason Quever (The Papercuts and Pan American Recording Studio), the sound of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone has grown to include pianos, organs, strings, flutes, drums, and pedal steel guitars in addition to Ashworth’s signature electronics and drum machines.

musical alias of 28 year old American film school drop-out Owen Ashworth...

Artist's links

Casiotone for The Painfully Alone on...

• My Space