Despite Landscape From Memory being the ninth album from Rival Consoles this is the first time I’ve ever heard Ryan Lee West’s music. After falling out of love with music, West has found himself happy at his work with this new collection of electronic soundscapes.
Opening track ‘In Reverse’ is a slinky fusion of delicately plucked guitar and swerving synths slipping into a concise mainline of humming bass and intricate beats. As a tribute to his partner, ‘Catherine’ pleases with floaty synths and a playful melody eventually branching out into a more dynamic set of atmospherics. ‘Drum Song’ alludes to the potential for some notable percussion but aside from a hefty thumping bass drum the clicks and taps are annoyingly more prevalent. There’s more swooping synths and pingy sounds that jump around but little hook to cling on to.
The beatless ‘Soft Gradient Beckons’ loops a scraping siren sound while soothing synths rise up like mist. I quite enjoy the fact there’s no percussion on the track to allow more space for the synths to play out. ‘Gaivotas’ features some woozy synth tones reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine’s warped drones. The intricacy of the flighty synths is to be admired but I’m not sure I quite have the capacity to absorb them. ‘Coda’ sounds fuller with a pleasing bass synth that wraps itself round the skittery percussion.
There’s more fidgety percussion in ‘Known Shape’ which features a beat that sounds like it’s been sampled from someone playing table tennis. No doubt hours of planning went into the programming. I recognise being dismissive may be detrimental but at this stage I’m really missing the glorious sound of a snare drum hit. ‘Nocturne’ has gorgeous synths that race like sunbeams over the evening skyline. With minimal beats involved I can relax more and absorb the atmospherics without those pesky clicks and pops interrupting the flow. ‘Jupiter’ calls in some vibrant synth sounds to impress; they pop about like a pinball pinging about.
The brief ‘In a Trance’ slithers and slides but offers me nothing in terms of replay value. Piano brings a more organic sound to the downbeat ‘If Not Now’. The synths are warm reminiscent of Sabres of Paradise. In ‘2 Forms’ lovely juddering synths shape shift as washing board percussion provides an intricate underlay. Not the most inspiring of titles ‘Tape Loop’ hums and shakes with a bubbling intensity, it’s wonderfully cinematic. Finally title track ‘Landscape from Memory’ pulls in some more Sabres of Paradise aping drones in the most pleasing way. Squelching bass hops about through the mix of droning synths and once again the tracks that employ minimalist percussion sound better to these ears.
On selecting this album for digestion, I found myself intrigued by the lush tones of ‘Catherine’, my current listening habits revolve largely around black metal albeit my historical musical appreciation often ventured into electronic acts like Orbital, Sabres of Paradise, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Pole etc. Finding the urge to re-calibrate my ears I sought solace in this album. Whilst it’s a pleasant enough listen, I just found it a little too monotone and the beats didn’t hit the spot at all. Overall, Landscape From Memory is a lush sounding album carefully constructed and highly polished.
