About

— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

London-based musician and producer Ryan Lee West, aka Rival Consoles has been concurrently in the foreground and background of electronic music since the late 00s; conjuring tense melancholia for Black Mirror soundtracks, playing in front of 10,000 dance fans at Drumsheds, selling out London’s Barbican Hall, and logging an expansive, wandering collection of synth-sculpted albums that explore a myriad different styles and aesthetics—but always with human emotion as their lodestar. 

The title ‘Persona’ was inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s film of the same name, specifically a shot in the opening credits of a child reaching out to touch a woman’s face on a screen, which is shifting between one face and another. This powerful image struck Ryan and it inspired the album’s main theme — an exploration of the persona, the difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us, the spaces in between; between states, people, light and dark, the inner persona and the outer persona.

“My music is generally inward looking. I like finding something about the self within music, that doesn't have to be specific but maybe asks something or reveals something. This record is a continuation on the self through electronic sounds. Like Legowelt once said ‘a synthesiser is like a translator for unknown emotions’, which I think sums up what I am trying to do. I think all these emotions we have make up our persona. So in a way by finding new ones you alter or expand your persona. And that is what I want my music to try to do. I deliberately aimed to be more sonically diverse with this record. I wanted to experiment more. I wanted to create new sounds and new emotions.”

Recorded at his studio in south-east London, ‘Persona’ benefits from Ryan’s exploration of a dynamic production process that combines analogue-heavy synthesisers, acoustic and electric instruments with a shoegaze-level obsession with effect pedals. A greater depth of emotion and confidence can be heard across the album. From the deconstructed movements on‘Unfolding’ that starts the album with a snap of delayed snares, the apocalyptic drones of the title track and thundering drums in ‘Phantom Grip’to more restrained ambient feels of ‘Dreamer’s Wake’, ‘Rest’ and ‘Untravel’. The latter transverses six beatless minutes of undulating melodies representing “a limbo space, a feeling of ennui, of not really ever being known to others and others not ever really being known to you”.

‘Be Kind’ reveals a musical connection with fellow Erased Tapes artist Nils Frahm, with its minimal approach and improvisational nature. On the more complex sounding ‘I Think So’ Ryan aims to replicate a colour collage with sound. Like a musical kaleidoscope, a flashing and convoluted mass. Written after he saw Slowdive perform live last year, ‘Hidden’ builds from whispers to landscapes of controlled noise. In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Ryan explains: “once you start trying to make a sound loud, then you turn your back on thousands and thousands of sonic possibilities. One of the best things to do is to start a track with a really quiet, weak sound.” Taking this idea to its ultimate conclusion, ‘Fragment’ closes the album as an innocent sounding ambient piece, almost nursery rhyme like, yielding time for reflection on how the persona has changed.

‘Persona’ follows the success of a series of releases — the ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Sonne’ EPs, long player ‘Howl’, and 2016’s mini album ‘Night Melody’— that saw Ryan mature into what Pitchfork has called a “forward-thinking electronic musician with his own ideas about sound”. Atypical of instrumental-electronic music, Ryan has achieved a signature sound that’s unmistakably identifiable as Rival Consoles. Going beyond typical electronic music production, Ryan defines it as “songwriting with an electronic palette of sounds”.

The increasingly dynamic live audio-visual show, born from bespoke performances at the Tate and for Boiler Room at the V&A Museum featuring self-programmed visuals in Max/MSP, has propelled him to play around the world. — (via Label)

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The music of Rival Consoles gives ghostly electronic music a tiny beating heart - making synths, echoes and all manner of crafted sounds feel uniquely human and emotional.

On Persona, this sound has once again taken a step forward in craft. Though the direction of the music hasn't changed substantially, Ryan Lee West's 4th album as Rival Consoles is subtler and more intricate than past work. As a veteran member of Erased Tapes, his music has transformed from IDM-rooted electronic music to something totally ownable, previously culminating in 2015's Howl, and 2016's Night Melody, both of which cemented Rival Consoles' reputation as a caretaker of some of the most interesting electronic music.

Much like Jon Hopkins, his music straddles the club and the bedroom from one track to the other, but unlike Hopkins' masterpiece Immunity, Persona doesn't have as cemented its journey as a whole body of work. With Persona, there's more variety than on any past release of Ryan's. 12 tracks make up the LP, and although clearly all with the same idea at heart, that variety can sometimes play against itself. Some tracks stop compeltely before the next starts, some blend. Some completely change shape during their 7 minute length, others build slowly and fade away, others are short, independent recordings. Though never inidividually out of place, it makes the album a little harder to follow as one full recording. But in many ways more rewarding with multiple listens.

The strengths of Rival Consoles' sound is it's depth. A production process that combines analogue-­heavy synthesisers, acoustic and electronic instruments, the sounds of Persona are rich, delicate, and heavy when they need to be. The title track is a relentless 7 minute floor-filler, whilst "Untravel" is a sombre and beautiful repeated refrain that for 5 minutes bends and builds, and colapses away again. Likewise "Unfolding" takes a more agressive approach, starting loud before manifesting itself with an imprivisational feel. Closing track "Fragment" is a achingly simple 100 seconds of warm textures and light pads.

Hearing all the different shapes Ryan can give his distinct sound is what's most fascinating about Persona, and has kept me coming back for more. It's a masterclass in modern electronic soundcraft that unveils new surprises at each listen. And each listen helps to start piece together the overall shape of the album, something which remains a little shrouded throughout. But its length, and depth, is also Persona's strength. An album to get lost in and to discover bits of wonder along the way. — (via The Line of Best Fit)

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Label: Erased Tapes Records
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 2018
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient, Intelligent Dance Music (IDM)

File under: Electronic // Leftfield
File under: TAV Essential Listening
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