BACKWORDS - Tre

"2016 release. Tre, the third release from Italy's Backwords, is an intimate, muscle-and-sinew-deep exploration of the mysterious meeting point of man and machine -- here, Pardo and vintage synths, drum machines, and miscellany from the second half of the last century. Twitchy beats, crackling textures and layers of tape distortion conjure a hallucinogenic universe that owes as much to heavy dub as it does to the techno-futurist optimism of the early modular synth pioneers. Recorded over a period of two years, Tre is the result of an intimate process that is strongly connected to an image of a bigger body, a complex sound ecosystem, where analog debris take shape through subtraction and precise layering. "Below/Above" and "Arpoon" begin with one "movimento" before slipping into another, approaching different time/space perceptions and juxtaposition of timbres and sounds with playful experimentation. The woozy looped basslines, distorted vocals and overstretched strings of "Wait!" suggest, in fleeting glimpses, the shadowy figure from whom all of these sounds flow. "Pas de Chance" clashes old samples against new granular synthesis and sequenced acid bass trying to find a meeting point between alien elements. "Tanzania" is a first take improvisation, simple and wild, in which static fuzz, sandpaper hisses and percussive clangs are cloaked in analogue warmth from a 1970s Amek BCII mixer and a Moog Prodigy. Includes download code." - Ooh-Sounds.