Andrew Valentine

They say write about what you know, and Owen Ashworth certainly knows film. As is mostly common knowledge, the perennial grizzly bear of battery powered analogue pop attended film school in his native USA, before packing his knapsack and opting for a lifestyle of cheap drum machines, cheaper keyboards and wittily affecting narratives. Theoretically then, this should stand him in good stead to provide the soundtrack to the new Laurel Nakadate film Stay The Same, Never Change. In reality, things are trickier, as this limited run, 7" only EP fills a niche that probably best described as "for collector's only."

Lead track 'Ice Cream Truck' is the main draw here, and the one most likely to appeal to fans of Ashworth's previous output. However, without the buoyant melodies and trashy, battering ram percussion of much of his other work, the song just ambles along, somewhat undecidedly, but safe in the knowledge that it will inevitably reach where it's trying to get to. If one were feeling witty, one could make light of certain ironies inherent in these attributes, but one isn't, so one won't. Context however, is a soundtrack's best friend. Given that Stay The Same... appears (from the trailer at least) to be the sort of observational quirk fest that favours the jump-cuts-of-scenery-as-viewed-from-a-moving-vehicle kind of shooting style, 'Ice Cream Truck' works just fine, in a drifting, calming fashion.

What else then? You get the instrumental title track, a barroom country ballad, where Casiotone's keyboards are augmented and enlivened by Jason Quever's lilting pedal steel and walking bass. Then there's another instrumental, this time of CFTPA's own 'I Love Creedence,' which is so very nearly the definition of superfluous, were it not for the subtraction of Ashworth's brusque, tragi-comic narrative exposing the song’s low key, chiming, twinkly loveliness not obvious on parent album Etiquette. And just as you're lulled into a steady, sedated haze, the ragged and fuzzed out demo of 'Green Cotton Sweater' takes root. Taking a similarly raw approach to the internet freebie demo of 'New Year's Kiss,' it sounds like it was recorded shortly before most of Ashworth's equipment exploded. Very good, if somewhat out of step with the rest of the EP.

This contextual isolation is what brings down most soundtrack releases. If you want to use the music in your film to create a mood, an ambience if you will, chances are that the same music is not going to have the same effect in a purely audio format. If you just want to play loads of cool shit that people will lap up like unfed cats, on the pretext of being "cultured," then your job is a bit easier. The 'Town Topic' EP falls uneasily between the two categories, a bit here, a bit there, a bit nowhere. Seeing the film itself then, is probably the wisest move at this juncture. And if you like that, and/or coloured vinyl, then maybe this is for you.

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