Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Etiquette

reviewed by dave heaton

The earliest Casiotone for the Painfully Alone albums were endearing in part because of how home-made they seemed to be. His 1999 debut Answering Machine Music in particular felt like Owen Ashworth had stumbled upon a way to make his little stories and letters into songs, that it was music by accident, not on purpose. I loved that album, I loved the way he would take a sentiment or idea or fleeting thought, put it over a nice enough melody, and record it in lovably ragged fashion. I loved all of that, but the way Ashworth has developed his music into something bigger and fuller without losing its most unique qualities is remarkable. And the end result I love even more.

The 30-minute Etiquette has that quintessential "album" feeling about it: it's compact, cohesive, ready to be played again and again, to be lived with like a companion. Each song tells a story. On the whole they're sad…making, like always, the "painfully alone" rhyme of the band name fitting. Yet they're also often darkly humorous, and leave room for creative flights of fancy even within songs that often ring true like they could be stories from your life, or those of your friends. The people in these songs are sort of aimlessly making their way through life, often finding reality to be quite different from their dreams, whether it's their loved one hooking up with someone else ("I Love Creedence") or that pined-for New Year's Eve kiss taking the form of a drunken hook-up in a kitchen pantry ("New Year's Kiss).

There's multiple songs where the narrator comes to realize how lonely he or she is, as in a portrait of Christmas spent alone, in a new city, away from family you don't really want to see anyway ("Cold White Christmas"). Or there's the nifty narrative to "Scattered Pearls," where the song's subject spends a night drinking, breaks a family heirloom, and in doing so comes to realize her own feelings of regret and confusion ("Scattered Pearls"). The key lyric to that song – "Oh I feel as scattered as grandmother's pearls" – is unexpectedly touching, as are many others throughout Etiquette. One that's especially so for me is the moment in "Bobby Malone Moves Home", the story of someone crashing at a family member's house to try to get his life back in order, when Ashworth sings, "the job that made you crazy / in a town you won't miss." His voice cracks in just the right way during that line; it's an example of how Ashworth's distinct, but rather limited, style of singing can really work to the song's advantage, to convey just the right feeling of pain.

Part of Etiquette's brilliance comes from Ashworth knowing when to sing and when to let others take over. This album's his fourth, but the first where a significant number of songs are sung by guest vocalists. There's 11 proper songs, four of them sung by others. These other singers, particularly the two female vocalists with quite lovely voices (Jenn Herbinson and Katy Davidson, aka Dear Nora), add so much to how the album hits you. They accentuate the storytelling quality of the album by making it feel less like the work of one person (though it ultimately is), as well as aesthetically adding more variety.

And musically the album is quite varied. In addition to the simple casiotone keyboard referenced in the band name, Etiquette's sound is built from a wider array of instruments and styles. The drum machines and keyboard are accented with strings, pianos, and more, all in just the right way, complementing the distinct CFTPA sound instead of taking it astray. There's a dance-music energy in places, and an overall sleek, pretty electronic sound. But there's also country tinges on one song, including a steel guitar, which somehow gels perfectly with the keyboards and beats. And in general Ashworth seems open to using whatever sound works best, whatever will make the song more affecting.

To say all of this careful expanding and arranging works in service of Casiotone's basic vision would be a major understatement. Ashworth's little story-songs have been dressed-up in a gorgeous way. The end result is an album that's filled with feeling but that also sounds great, played loud or soft, in headphones, during the daily commute to an annoying job, during Sunday afternoons at home. Whenever, wherever, however. It's a real delight, easily one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

{www.tomlab.com, www.cftpa.org, cftpaforever.livejournal.com}