Underwater techno. That's “Leaning Over Backwards” summed up in just two words. Tobias Freund’s debut album for Ostgut Ton also serves as the long-playing introduction for his Tobias moniker. Formerly based in Frankfurt and now happily living in Berlin, Tobias started his quest in sound as a synth avantgardist with a Korg MS20, working as a studio engineer, releasing tracks as Pink Elln or with projects such as Sieg über die Sonne and NSI.
On "Leaning Over Backwards" he's moved away from the ubiquitous dictate of computer synchronization. Instead the computer makes way for classic drum machines Roland TR 808 and a Korg Mini Pops. Known for having a life of their own, the unpredictability of these machines wins over standardized convenience. Rooted in jam sessions with just beats and efx units, the moods and music of the tracks on “Leaning Over Backwards” follow those parameters. The results are sometimes unswerving club tracks ("Skippy“, "Party Town“, "We Stick To The Plan“), occassionally an ambient or drone-like atmosphere ("Zero Tolerance“, "Observing The Hypocrites“) or meet up as hybrids in the title track.
All the cuts are held together by the feeling of being underwater - a feeling that is apparent from the start with “Girts”. Take “The Key” for instance. Produced in Santiago by tobias. and his long standing colleague Uwe Schmidt alias Atom™, you can listen to splintered beats and gloomy pads expanding into Drexciyan depths. It all comes full circle with “Now I Know”. Equally fantastic and fey, Tobias once again makes use of Aerea Negrot's (Hercules And Love Affair) remarkable voice. As before on “Party Town” or “Zero Tolerance”, Negrot is the icing on the cake, turning the closing track into a longing piece of Blade Runner pop music.
