RELEASE: Persona
ARTIST(S): Rival Consoles
REMIXERS:
LABEL:
GENRE:
RELEASED: 2018-04-13
BITRATE: 320Kbps
DOWNLOAD SIZE: 135.16 MB
TOTAL TRACKS 12
- Rival Consoles – Be Kind (Original Mix) (04:08) / AâŻmin, 154bpm
- Rival Consoles – Dreamer’s Wake (Original Mix) (05:04) / GâŻmaj, 113bpm
- Rival Consoles – Fragment (Original Mix) (01:39) / FâŻmaj, 169bpm
- Rival Consoles – Hidden (Original Mix) (07:39) / Cmaj, 137bpm
- Rival Consoles – I Think So (Original Mix) (04:34) / CâŻmin, 149bpm
- Rival Consoles – Memory Arc (Original Mix) (02:13) / FâŻmin, 128bpm
- Rival Consoles – Persona (Original Mix) (07:04) / Amin, 120bpm
- Rival Consoles – Phantom Grip (Original Mix) (05:12) / FâŻmin, 164bpm
- Rival Consoles – Rest (Original Mix) (03:46) / FâŻmin, 108bpm
- Rival Consoles – Sun’s Abandon (Original Mix) (05:40) / CâŻmin, 180bpm
- Rival Consoles – Unfolding (Original Mix) (05:58) / GâŻmin, 160bpm
- Rival Consoles – Untravel (Original Mix) (05:52) / Fmaj, 126bpm
Total Playtime: 00:58:49 min
Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles has announced his fourth full length album ‘Persona’ will be released on 13th April via Erased Tapes.
The title ‘Persona’ was inspired by Ingmar Bergmanâs film of the same name, specifically a shot in the opening credits of a child reaching out to touch a womanâs face on a screen, which is shifting between one face and another. This powerful image struck Ryan and it inspired the albumâs main theme â 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 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 âa synthesiser is like a translator for unknown emotionsâ, 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.â
Recorded at his studio in south-east London, âPersonaâ benefits from Ryanâs 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 âUnfoldingâ that starts the album with a snap of delayed snares, the apocalyptic drones of the title track and thundering drums in âPhantom Gripâ to more restrained ambient feels of âDreamerâs Wakeâ, âRestâ and âUntravelâ. The latter transverses six beatless minutes of undulating melodies representing âa limbo space, a feeling of ennui, of not really ever being known to others and others not ever really being known to youâ.
‘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 âI Think Soâ 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, âHiddenâ builds from whispers to landscapes of controlled noise. In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Ryan explains: âonce 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.â Taking this idea to its ultimate conclusion, âFragmentâ 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 â the âOdysseyâ and âSonneâ EPs, long player âHowlâ, and 2016âs mini album âNight Melodyâ â that saw Ryan mature into what Pitchfork has called a âforward-thinking electronic musician with his own ideas about soundâ. Atypical of instrumental-electronic music, Ryan has achieved a signature sound thatâs unmistakably identifiable as Rival Consoles. Going beyond typical electronic music production, Ryan defines it as âsongwriting with an electronic palette of soundsâ.
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. Ryan launches âPersonaâ at Londonâs XOYO on 12th April with further dates to be announced.