Rival Consoles – Landscape From Memory

Ryan Lee West's ninth studio album continues his exploration of analogue synths and complex programming, though now with a greater emotional appeal, an open-hearted love letter compared to the occasionally opaque avant-gardisms of previous work.

Catherine speaks directly to the object of the album's attentions, and the song's expansive synths pre-empt the ingenuity that makes Landscape From Memory endlessly intriguing. Each note feels considered, bleeds and overlaps into the next, creating an intricate cross-hatched series of interlinked sounds. Like a pattern in the sky formed of chemtrails, it has the feel of an organic or divine process, while clearly being the work of carefully constructed pre-planning. Gaivotas demonstrates West's touch with elaborate percussion programming (see also: Drum Song), contrasted with plodding beats and staccato synths that are truly original in a way rarely heard in contemporary electronic music. This virtuosity is typical of Erased Tapes, though it never stops being impressive.

West charts similar terrain throughout and after an hour it can be a lot to take in. But for all the soft pads and skittering percussion, the cinematic flourishes that are begging to soundtrack a near-future dystopia (he's already done Black Mirror), there are still enough unique and surprising touches to justify the long runtime, like the industrial hues of 2 Forms and what sounds like a distant lawnmower blending with the delicate keys on Known Shape. For a consistently brilliant artist with almost two decades of experience, we expect nothing less from Rival Consoles.

Listen to: Catherine, Gaivotas, If Not Now