In Cambridge

*In Cambridge* is a fair summation of singer/songwriter Owen Ashworth’s output as the one-man band Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Recorded live at the club Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, Mass., the album finds Ashworth backed by a six-piece touring combo featuring members of Magical Beautiful and The Dead Science. The ensemble fleshes out Casiotone’s low-fi keyboard-centered music in creative ways, adding greater definition to the tunes’ discomforting narratives. Ashworth remains the brooding storyteller, talk-singing his way through songs that blend self-lacerating confession with dispassionate reportage. In this setting, Ashworth’s talent for dissecting the lives of misfits gains a larger resonance, underscored by subtle interactions of keyboards, guitars, and brass that push the sound almost into theater-music territory. Moving from the steady simmer of “Natural Light” to the downbeat funk of “Harsh the Herald Angels Sing” and the bleak dazzle of “The Subway Home,” Ashworth and his crew put Casiotone to bed with dignity, tenderness, and grace.

The first official live album by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone! In Cambridge was recorded on April 28, 2010 at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA, at the tail end of the only Casiotone for the Painfully Alone tour to feature a six-piece band (featuring members of Magical Beautiful & The Dead Science). Drawing heavily from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's two most beloved albums, Etiquette & Vs. Children, In Cambridge brings fourteen classic songs to life with pianos, organs, horns, guitars, live drums & percussion. In Cambridge is an awesome document of a short-lived live incarnation of Owen Ashworth's often solo, electronic, lo-fi pop songwriting project – featuring the fullest, most bombastic arrangements of these songs that were ever recorded.