Advance Base

Singer/songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Owen Ashworth</a> performs poignant, lushly arranged indie pop songs as Advance Base. Previously known for his beloved indie electronic outfit <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">Casiotone for the Painfully Alone</a>, which released several albums and toured constantly between 1997 and 2010, he retired the project and started fresh, establishing Advance Base in 2011. Featuring an organic-sounding mix of acoustic instrumentation and minimal electronics, albums such as 2015's Nephew in the Wild and 2018's Animal Companionship showcased <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a>'s understated singing style and affecting lyrics. Horrible Occurrences, a concept album set in a fictional town called Richmond, appeared in 2024.

Born in Redwood City, California in 1977, <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a> began making lo-fi pop songs on cheap Casio keyboards in 1997, combining wry and bitter yet heartfelt and earnest lyricism with bright, simple melodies. Through the course of five full-length albums (all released by German indie label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tomlab%22">Tomlab</a>) as well as numerous singles and EPs, <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">CftPA</a> showed a remarkable artistic growth, with increasingly ambitious production and arrangements, as well as songs that occasionally rivaled <a href="spotify:artist:6RWjTQqILL7a1tQ0VapyLK">the Magnetic Fields</a>' <a href="spotify:artist:2x7iCl510O317XjOcG7iOf">Stephin Merritt</a> at his best.

<a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a> retired <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">CftPA</a>, as well as all of the songs he'd written under the moniker, in 2010, but intended to continue creating new music. The following year, <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a> (who had relocated from the West Coast to Chicago) started his new project, Advance Base, sharing its name with <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a>'s recording studio as well as the title of <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">CftPA</a>'s 2009 singles/rarities compilation Advance Base Battery Life. Advance Base began playing shows around Chicago, leading to small tours with <a href="spotify:artist:7hJJHlVtf0Y7tzC9ZfZoMi">Concern</a> (the ambient/experimental project of <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Owen</a>'s brother Gordon Ashworth), <a href="spotify:artist:2KCB7rHKJ04E2WprsXHGU4">the Donkeys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:166Dz1GX3xonSQ3Z6CQW26">the Rapture</a>, and others. Advance Base released a few limited-edition 7" singles, including split releases with <a href="spotify:artist:7hJJHlVtf0Y7tzC9ZfZoMi">Concern</a> and Hello Shark. In addition, <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a> (a dedicated fan of hip-hop) co-produced <a href="spotify:artist:5F3fDx84RYnmx0FGZeRtSF">Serengeti</a>'s album Family & Friends on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Anticon%22">Anticon</a>.

In May of 2012, Advance Base released its first full-length album, A Shut-In's Prayer. <a href="spotify:artist:0qt6QSruHshcWT9QOzyfZp">Mark Kozelek</a> (who had previously covered <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">CftPA</a>'s song "Natural Light") released the CD on his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Caldo+Verde%22">Caldo Verde</a> label, while <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Orindal+Records%22">Orindal Records</a> issued it on vinyl. The critically acclaimed album continued to document <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a>'s growth as a songwriter and arranger, featuring more detailed production and increased usage of piano and autoharp in addition to keyboards and drum machines. Advance Base continued touring, including stints with <a href="spotify:artist:4CvZd3qzC2HbLxAoAEBRIL">Ben Gibbard</a>, Hello Shark, and <a href="spotify:artist:68QhSfYuqyiT1KPoHlCvSv">Nicholas Krgovich</a>, and released Instrumentals #1, a limited cassette containing vocal-free versions of his tracks with <a href="spotify:artist:5F3fDx84RYnmx0FGZeRtSF">Serengeti</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:5F3fDx84RYnmx0FGZeRtSF">Serengeti</a>'s 7" EP Be a Man, which included two further collaborations with Advance Base, also saw release in 2012.

The following year, Advance Base released The World Is in a Bad Fix Everywhere, an EP of songs written by mythical early 20th century Texan street preacher <a href="spotify:artist:11YbY0pwLfcWTRJTkEctRH">Washington Phillips</a>. This was followed by the cassette release Tomorrow's Homes Today, <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a>'s interpretation of <a href="spotify:artist:6RWjTQqILL7a1tQ0VapyLK">the Magnetic Fields</a>' 1992 EP The House of Tomorrow. <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a> contributed to <a href="spotify:artist:4G0XDEk7RbA4BBCTs917U9">Sun Kil Moon</a>'s Benji, which was released in early 2014 and subsequently was hailed as one of the year's most critically acclaimed albums. Following numerous live gigs and releasing a few albums by other artists on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Orindal+Records%22">Orindal Records</a> (as well as two <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">CftPA</a> live LPs), Advance Base released its second full-length, Nephew in the Wild, in 2015. Live album In Bloomington followed in 2016. Animal Companionship, the third Advance Base full-length, was recorded with former <a href="spotify:artist:4FdSsjcX7vzOnN5zNqQWAy">CftPA</a> collaborator Jason Quever in Los Angeles, and released in 2018. In 2021, Advance Base released Live at Home and covers album Wall of Tears & Other Songs I Didn't Write. <a href="spotify:artist:3LqiGdKmDJPKHM07FFhBsq">Ashworth</a>'s first album of original material in six years, the sparsely arranged yet vividly descriptive Horrible Occurrences, arrived in 2024. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi