Odyssey / Sonne

London-based electronic producer Ryan Lee West is notable for making synthesizers sound both human and atmospheric under the moniker Rival Consoles. Shying away from creating all of his sounds on the laptop, he instead molds and shapes his melodies on his Prophet, Moog Voyager, and tape delay, the same gear he uses in his live performances.

This CD combines West's 12" EPs Odyssey and Sonne, both of which sold out within only a few months. Synthesizers make up the core sound of the records, while tracks like "Helios," "Haunt," and "Think Tank" feature West playing live drums and acoustic guitar.

West describes his process: "I'm often looking at art in exhibitions and I always think to myself 'why the hell don't I have this much colour in my work?' The answer in part I think is down to synthesis. It is very difficult to create colour without it sounding plastic. Colour in music is both the note combinations and the actual timbre of the sounds. There are lots of instances of very colourful ambient sounds, which I took great care to create for each song, using various methods -- from passing analogue synths through chains of effects to chopping up random sequences of recordings and forming tiny collages." - Forced Exposure