Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is the musical alias of 30 year old American film school drop-out Owen Ashworth. Ashworth began his ventures into abstract emotional music 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 created solely on battery operated keyboards and electronics recorded to 4-track cassette. With 1999's Answering Machine Music (Tomlab), 2001's Pocket Symphonies For Lonesome Subway Cars (Tomlab) and 2003's Twinkle Echo (Tomlab) Ashworth defined a hybrid strain of raw, passionate, and very homemade synth pop that was instantly recognisable as his own. Claustrophobic two-minute character studies shuddered with reverbed beats, blown-out chords, and simple but infectious 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 widely acclaimed Etiquette (Tomlab). Removing the focus from a decidedly utilitarian aesthetic to a broader production spectrum Ashworth provided his personal, affecting song writing the space it deserved as he experimented with pianos, organs, strings, flutes, drums, and pedal steel guitars, all beautifully set against his signature electronics and drum machines.
Following a series of singles for various independent record labels, Ashworth is to release the 7 inch EP Town Topic via One Inch Badge (OIB) Records. Town Topic is a the soundtrack for the American independent film Stay The Same Never Change by the critically acclaimed New York / Los Angeles artist Laurel Nakadate. Bathed in the blinding light and sticky heat of Kansas City’s summer, Stay The Same Never Change utilises both amateur and first-time actors to create a fictional account of everyday lives and a portrait of a real place. It’s an unsettling coming-of-age story delivered through the real-life experiences of youth in the American Midwest.
Over the past ten years Ashworth has experimented with a diverse range of genres including dark synth pop, classic rock balladry, country-tinged techno, 60’s bubblegum pop and stark piano bar jazz. Through his wild experimentation and introspective character studies, Ashworth’s popularity has escalated rapidly making him one of the most invigorating and heartfelt songwriter’s working in independent music.