Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette (Tomlab, 2006)

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Etiquette
Tomlab
2006

Rating: 6.5 alligator tea parties out of 10

It might have taken Owen Ashworth aka Casiotone for the Painfully Alone four records to get himself away from the four-track and into the studio, but you can’t hurry genius. No doubt some of his more purist fans will be disappointed to find guest vocalists and fleshed out instrumentation littered throughout this release, but it's their loss. In my view it’s for the better – not that I didn’t enjoy Owen’s earlier output, but there is a lot more to grab onto here, and his music doesn’t feel as brittle and thin as it did in the past. You’re still going to get the melancholy instrumentation and sad lyrics you’re used to, only this time it’s wrapped in a prettier package, so to speak.