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Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Town Topic EP (Tomlab)
UK release date: 22 September 2008
4 stars
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Town Topic EP

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track listing

1. Ice Cream Truck
2. Town Topic (Instrumental)
3. I Love Creedence
4. Lesley Gore On The Tami Show
5. Twinkle Echo (Reverse)
6. Nashville Parthenon
7. Stsnc
8. Twinkle Echo (Redux)
9. I Like Common
10. Possible Love Interest
11. Bad People
12. OMG
13. Probably Walkin Down The Street
14. Ice Cream Truck (Instrumental)
15. Green Cotton Sweater (Version)

MORE
ALBUM:
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Vs Children

ALBUM:
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Advance Base Battery Life

ALBUM:
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Town Topic EP

ALBUM:
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette

GIG:
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone @ Bush Hall, London

LINKS
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone


Weighing in at a little over 22 minutes, but with no less than 15 songs, the latest EP from Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is an intriguing affair.

A combination of new material and re-worked songs from previous albums, it opens with the track Ice Cream Truck, which Owen Ashworth, the band's sole member, has been previewing at live shows during the course of this year. As the name implies, it features a melodic chime which wouldn't be out of place in the presence of Mr Whippy.

Indeed, the whole EP has a rather hazy, playful, and at times gentle feel to it - almost dreamlike, in fact. There are a succession of instrumentals, including slowed-down reinterpretations of I Love Creedence and Nashville Parthenon, both of which originally featured on the album Etiquette (2006). New track Lesley Gore On The Tami Show also bops along in a jaunty, wordless way.

The tweaking and tinkering of past material continues with Twinkle Echo (Reverse) doing exactly what it says on the tin, taking the title track from his 2003 album and playing it backwards. He's just that zany! It's also given an extended right-way-round treatment in the Echo (Redux) version, a little later on.

There's a distinct change of tack with I Like Common, which is replete with throbbing bass, and this continues through the next four tracks, which all hover around the 30 second mark. These aren't terribly satisfactory, as they stand - they feel as if they're just getting started, before abruptly finishing.

OMG would be particularly interesting to hear in an extended version, as it is a clear nod to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, that contains a Popcorn-style effect from Enola Gay. Things are rounded off with Green Cotton Sweater (Version), which is drenched in distortion, but when stripped of this would otherwise be a ballad.

All in all, it's a rather lovely little EP featuring Pallett's trademark Casiotone-playing wizardry, which will hopefully give rise to bigger and better versions of the delightful musical nuggets contained herein.

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