[mp3] Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - "Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)"

Here’s a brand new one from Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s forthcoming album Vs. Children, due from Tomlab Records on April 7th. The 5th proper album from Owen Ashworth‘s recording project, Vs. Children continues the shift away from the strictly bedroom electronics of early albums towards the warmer, more natural musical settings that took flight on 2006‘s Etiquette. Piano, organ, mellotron, and acoustic percussion frame most of these 11 tracks, along with Ashworth’s signature droll, disaffected vocal style. He’s helped out by a handful of PHW favorites, including Papercuts’ Jason Quever (co-producer), and The Donkeys (his backing band on 3 songs).

The first single, “Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm”, is an excellent place to get your feet wet, as the song’s barroom piano, stomping drums, and memorable lyrics (“with the money in the backseat baby we could buy a house/and raise a little family on Schlitz and Mickey Mouse, well Hallelujah”) eventually gives way to a surprisingly odd (and oddly welcome) segue into “When The Saints Go Marching In”. At just under 2 minutes, it’s seems like just a simple, charming little song, but on repeat listens the touching story of a couple on the run from the law and at the end of their criminal career comes to a vivid life of its own. Listen.

MP3 :: Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)
(from Vs. Children. Info here)
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