Canadian keyboardist/producer Jonny Tobin is about to release the Isolation EP, part two in his Apocalypse trilogy project.
Jonny Tobin is a Vancouver, Canada-based keyboardist and producer. As a trained musician he's an in-demand session player for recordings and live performances. While groove-based music is his primary love, his versatility reaches all across the musical spectrum. Jonny performed with hip-hop artists, r&b/soul vocalists, instrumental jazz groups, pop singer-songwriters, country artists, reggae bands, and latin bands. He contributed keys and co-prodution to Inglewood MC D Smoke's album Black Habits, which got Grammy nominated in 2020.
Next to his fellow musicians and producers, Jonny gets inspired by Saturday morning cartoons, pixelated 90s video games, 3AM drives, just to name a bunch of random things that are clearly audible in his work.
Jonny first came to attention as a producer when he released 'Sunrise' in January 2019.
The track made an immediate impression in the modern funk-scene and got picked up by the label Austin Boogie Crew, who pressed it on 7 inch later that year. In the same year, (even on the same date!), he featured on Trian Kayhatu's insanely complex track 'Aart7' for the Super Sonic Family Vol.1 compilation.
"Shifting through moods and vibes that are uplifting with a hint of bittersweet nostalgia, this project was inspired by the moods and feelings that the global pandemic brought on." - Jonny Tobin
In 2020 Jonny released his vinyl debut album Weekends with the Amsterdam-based label Wicked Wax. A sun-drenched record that perfectly encapsulates his colourful & diverse sound. The album oozes soulful chords, fat synth bass lines, lead synth solos, a lot of vocal guest features and the fellow Canadian duo Potatohead People's AstroLogical on co-production for half of the tunes. Jonny's sound is instantly recognisable and contains a unique blend of neo-soul, jazz fusion, modern funk, hip hop, house and gospel. It's the latter that really shines through on the B-side with tracks like 'Praise', 'Sunday Evening' and 'Saaang Somethin'.
If there's one word that is synonymous to 'Jonny Tobin', I believe it is collaboration. Next to his own album, that was already filled with collabs, he released music in the past year with EyeLoveBrandon, Mecca:83, Teon Gibbs, Makadi, was featured on the latest Potatohead People album, and just 3 weeks ago did a banging tune called 'On The Fly' with Daniel Hayn & Paul Grant. Not to forget he released his own Awake EP in January as well. This man clearly used most of his quarantine-time to invest into his own productivity & connections.
When Jonny send us his forthcoming EP one track felt familiar and then it hit me! He initially made it for Masego's 'Veg Out' challenge last year and got picked as one of the top submissions. Seeing Masego feel that bounce in his bones surely gave Jonny the inspiration to expand the tune and use it on his own EP. And why wouldn't he? It turned out even better than it was at the first stage. We're witnessing the beauty of evolution in real time here.
Lush synth chords, neck slapping grooves, lowrider bass lines and sizzling synths will penetrate your eardrum all at once. He balances all those ingredients to a pleasant degree and the 3 minute track gives you just enough to get you satisfied, but a little longer would've been even better. Good news for all of us is that the EP arrives in two days and there's another part in the trilogy coming later this year. So plenty of greatness is coming our way.
The Isolation EP will be out this Thursday May 27th and you can get your first listen of 'Take Your Time' below!
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