Life > April 17, 2008

By Rachel Kowal | Staff writer

Though we at the university perhaps like to picture the campus of Duke in a disparaging light, one thing is for sure – they certainly get more exciting musical acts than we do.

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Just this year, The Duke Coffee House has had the privilege of hosting The Spinto Band, Kimya Dawson (who was a big hit with several songs on the Juno soundtrack), Bowerbirds and Elf Power in addition to hosting regular dance parties.

On April 11, the bill belonged to bands Clue to Kalo and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, (which easily makes my list of top five band names ever).

With the help of outer-space themed walls (complete with a myriad of different aliens — some cute and others downright hostile), once inside the coffee house, all dislike for Duke — and even an awareness of being on campus — quickly melts away.

In addition to the hand painted oddities lining the walls, in the coffee shop there was a BYOB rule in effect since the cafe didn’t sell alcohol.

Students brought six-packs and sat Indian-style on the floor in clusters, peacefully enjoying their brews.

Clue to Kalo, the opening band, was cute in that “I’m from Australia” kind of way.

They kept trading off the responsibility of lead vocals, and with two keyboards playing during some songs, they were a fitting opening for Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.

Though Clue to Kalo was comprised of four times as many members as the main act and had a more complex instrumentation, the accompanying surreal aspects of the venue made this work.

After they were done the headliner band come onstage. With the unassuming introduction: “I’m going to play some songs now. I hope you like them,” Owen Ashworth, the one-man-band under the moniker of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, kicked off his show with what he called the “white trilogy.”

While some musicians plow through their set list without acknowledging the audience, Ashworth often took requests for songs and told many anecdotes between songs to the delight of the audience.

In one particularly long voice break, Ashworth asked the audience to try to refrain from any crimes or misdemeanors for the sake of the poor Australians of Clue to Kalo who had apparently already been questioned by police about a suspicious individual on the loose in Atlanta and had seen an episode of COPS being filmed in the parking lot of their diner in Austin — all within the past few days.

The show was tame for the most part save the spontaneous dancing for the song “Scattered Pearls.”

I can only describe his style as some sort of bouncing swing dancing since a couple of people were literally jumping in time to the music for the duration of the song.

At times, Ashworth’s lyrics are controversial, scandalous, simple or pedestrian, but they never cease to be entertaining and authentic.

He sings about awkward New Year’s Eve kisses, writing home to ask Mom and Dad for more money, mice in the kitchen and even his grandmother’s lost pearls.

The narrative flow of the songs combined well with Owen’s monotone voice and gave the music a confessional sort of feel.

Owen Ashworth is certainly no Jason Mraz.

He is slightly overweight, awkward, and his voice — although deep and mostly monotone — has a slight trace of that adolescent uncertainty and nervousness to it.

Despite this, his music is sincere, endearing and easy to relate to.

Ashworth’s music — which all comes from (you guessed it) his keyboard — is minimalist and rarely complex but catchy and fun.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone will probably not be entering into the mainstream consciousness any time soon, but the drive to Durham was well worth it.

It is only a shame that there were no more than 50-65 people in attendance to witness the unique, melodic events of the peaceful evening.