Articulation

Ryan Lee West, the London-based musician better known as Rival Consoles, conceptualized his album Articulation through sketches and drawings. In some cases, he drew detailed graphic scores of how he intended to structure the pieces, and other drawings were visual interpretations of how he wanted the synths to sound, or the feelings he aimed to capture with the compositions. Unlike some of his previous recordings, he doesnt incorporate acoustic instrumentation here (at least not prominently), but he does attempt to replicate the nuances of real-time performances with these intricately arranged electronic tracks. Opener Vibrations on a String threads a relatively simple synth line through various timbres and textures, dramatically swelling near the beginning before accompanying a steadily ticking beat with tremolo notes. Forwardism pairs a swiftly marching beat with a clever, stripped-down note sequence which trippily expands towards its conclusion. Following the reflective ambient piece Melodica, which sounds like skipping pebbles on a tranquil pond, Articulation is one of the albums most involved pieces, with more urgent beat patterns and fluttering, swooping melodies which approximate hammered dulcimers. Most ambitious and emotionally heavy is the final track, Sudden Awareness of Now, which channels the bittersweet euphoria of epic trance but stops short of its propulsive, club-ready beats, only using an emphatic, jittery kick drum pattern during a key moment. Articulation displays Wests skills at letting human emotions guide his technical explorations, matching intuition with precision to produce gripping, resonant music. ~ Paul Simpson