It’s odd that sometimes an album sounds just like you expect it to, and it’s a good thing.  Then at others, it’s a bad thing.  What’s the difference?  Well, no matter, but I love this album despite not being at all surprised by it.  It’s more cheerful than we’re used to perhaps, somehow cosier than earlier work, and musically a little more upbeat as well.  Optimist vs. the Silent Alarm is almost jaunty, unless you listen too closely to the lyrics.

If ever there were miserable songs rendered indulgently nourishing by the richness of their performance then the songs of Owen Ashworth are they.  Something about the unhurried quality of his delivery, the trademark twin-chiming piano, or the deep reassurance of his voice means that no matter how bleak and heartbreaking his lyrics, there is something reassuring and optimistic about the feelings which they generate.

With time, the arrangements seem to be becoming a little more intricate.  Not intricate, perhaps – maybe just a little deeper and more layered.  The gradual inclusion of intruments beyond the casiotone hum is gorgeous.  The two make the same lovely counterpoint to one another as does the occasional female duet with Ashworth’s own deep thrum.

I sometimes hear what the Mountain Goats might have been, when I listen to Casiotone.  That’s a random aside, but do you know what I mean?  They seem to be kindred spirits in my head, even though the music is very different.  For some reason, apart from the Sunset Tree, the Mountain Goats never quite clicked for me, but despite it’s carefully modest scope, this album really does.  It is balanced and confident, and it almost sounds like he knew from the start that this was going to be a bloody brilliant record.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)

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Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Man o’ War

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