Owen Ashworth might be calling time on his Casiotone for the Painfully Alone moniker, and, with that, he may even be changing his musical direction. Thankfully his imprint upon music will take a lot longer to shrug off. Though the name might be absent from their influences list, Plastic Flowers could be the man to take the absent throne of lo-fi keyboard king.
The work of the gloriously named Sean Earl Beard, the two songs available on myspace have already convinced Beko DSL to commission a single – amongst the highest honours that can be bestowed to any emerging electronic artist, and within thirty seconds of ‘Drive Me Home’ it’s not difficult to hear why. A carefully measured exercise in loner-pop, it’s a tender exploration of a relationship that shouldn’t be explored, it masterfully avoids being the cliché that lesser hands could’ve made it. Delicate and warm, it feels like the kind of personal narrative that Casiotone became renowned for, whilst absolutely begging for repeat plays. Whilst the other track up for streaming might not be as arresting, there’s definitely potential – as there always is with a man so drawn to garish flowery shirts. Thanfully, for all those finally starting to bore of chillwave, there’s a lack of post-Balearic beats on show, which means that this is more humble than anthemic, and brilliantly so.
The Beko single comes out on October 4th, but it’s highly unlikely you’ll be tired of this before then.
Plastic Flowers – Drive Me Home [download]
[myspace]
This is best band to come out in a long long time!