Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, perhaps best known as the man that made sadness sound fun, is returning to New Zealand with his sweetly forlorn pop songs this November.
Under this unabashedly gloomy moniker, Owen Ashworth has become the voice of a generation seeing it out in a wilderness of concrete, navigating bits of loneliness along city streets, wandering empty apartments during winter and tallying up debts (emotional, material) with other detritus that floats in the wake of aging. Over the shuffling thump of a drum machine, humming synths and chiming keys, Ashworth's stories emerge forming songs- perfectly observed moments that feel familiar, situations that are all too close to home about people you might know or have been.
His latest album, Vs. Children (2009), is a truthful, intimate dissection of what it is to go from growing up to grown up, dealing with the mundane reality of expectations unfulfilled, whether to settle and other tough calls. His songs say- whatever it is you're feeling or doing, you can be comforted by this simple fact:
You're not the only one.
So take heart. Take a night away from your own personal, yet universal grind with Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, have him soundtrack your life this November.
All shows are supported by CONCERN, a solo project of Gordon Ashworth (also of Oscillating Innards and CAEN) formed in 2003. Concern is intimate collage music shaped by droning string harmonies and crumbling tape loops; minimalist tones built into breathing layers of vestigial melody and broken, struggling beauty.
$25 tickets on sale NOW from Slow Boat Records (Wellington), undertheradar.co.nz and Real Groovy (Auckland)
CFTPA w/ Concern
Tuesday 17th November - Chicks Hotel - Dunedin
Thursday 19th November - Al's Bar - Christchurch
Friday 20th November - Cassette #9 in association with MUM - Auckland
Saturday 22nd November - SFBH - Wellington
