Photography by Dan Medhurst, Fabrice Bourgelle & Olha Androsova | Words by Josh Barrow
This interview was originally published in Volume XV, January 2025
The experts over at Pitchfork describe the work of Ryan Lee West, alias Rival Consoles, as “high-brow, avant-garde electronic music in the vein of Jon Hopkins and Nils Frahm” – which is pretty on the money in our eyes.
His music is as unique as it is intricate , and feels more like a live performance than any sort of programmed sequence each time you press play. When he’s not busy making and touring said work, you’ll find him writing original scores for Netflix shows and internationally acclaimed films.
Discovery of the song Recovery is where our obsession for Rival Consoles’ music first began. This landed in an early ‘WT FM’ playlist, many moons ago, leading us to his full catalogue of distinct, conceptual and metamorphic sounds, and thus sitting firmly at the top of the office Spotify’s Most Played two years running. To this day, if his music isn’t being suggested to accompany an upcoming video project of ours during working hours, it will be thumping through the studio walls as we work overtime to hit print deadline.
With the release of his forthcoming album with Erased Tapes Records, it seemed like an opportune moment to finally speak with this WT favourite. So we reached out and caught up with Ryan Lee following a Portugal studio stint, on all things writing, creating and performing, all whilst in the midst of wrapping up his ninth album.
Having read past interviews, you say your first musical experience was playing guitar in your early teen years. How did that evolve into the music you make today?
There are a lot things in my music that are shaped by being a guitarist first, from the simplicity of how I treat synths with guitar pedals to mimicking guitar playing techniques like rapid tremolo playing on a single string, A lot of what I do is unconsciously similar I think, but definitely plays a big part in my overall sound, especially the kind of behaviour and tone of the synth parts. I would say my music is closer to bands than to techno in terms of style and structure.
What were the most significant challenges you faced when first starting out, and at what point did you realise this could be a full time gig?
I think for anyone starting out it takes huge amounts of time focusing on learning and exploring and gaining an understanding of the medium that feels natural and flexible. It takes many years to make music with technology in a way that feels convincing to you the maker. I never actually expected for my music to become my full time work, it actually slowly happened over many releases and years of building, I think at the time of releasing Sonne there was a slight shift in awareness of my work and by the time by album Howl was released in 2015 I took the risk of trying to make a living from my music, which was amazing but very turbulent for the first few years.
Who have been your biggest influences to make music? Are there any non-musical influences—art, literature, or nature for example that inspire your work?
Big influences are Clark, Aphex Twin, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, etc.
I’m definitely inspired by abstract paintings, in that I wish I could make expressive gestures with sound the way artists do with brush marks. I am always also very influenced by film, iconic moments like Ligeti’s music in 2001 a space odyssey, left a deep impression on me when I was young. Under the skin for its strange and naked stylistic minimalism that achieves so much. The intro music to Alien which has this strange mysterious lightness over the shots of empty corridors. The opening credits to Vertigo, etc many, many influences from film!
In a previous video piece we’ve seen you do drawings of rhythmic patterns for your songs, in different formats quoting “Music as visuals or visuals as music”. Can you tell us a little bit more about this?
Electronic music without vocals seems very abstract to me, in a way that you can start to think of it as shape and colour and texture etc. Also the very fact that computers allow us to constantly see the structure of music influences how we listen and think of music. For me it’s natural and helpful to think of music in different ways, because when we think of things in different ways we notice new things about it.
There must be technologies or instruments which have profoundly changed since you first started making music. Has that changed the way you make music?
The main thing that clicked for me was using the prophet 8 synth, which is a pretty powerful analogue synth. For some reason I just always seem to create sounds with it that inspire me to compose. I would say 90% of the music I have released has been made with it! Even to this day I am creating new sounds that inspire me and this journey began over ten years ago, so that is quite special and unusual. With other devices I find that I make a piece or two such as the Kong Arp Odyssey.
I think the main thing was listening more closely and asking questions with more understanding of sound, such as if I love the sound of a cello note playing a single note, what is it that Is like? is it the very noisey quality the bow makes? is it the texture? the deep wooden reverb like tone? when you observe sound and the things that make up sound you then start to apply this thinking to making and designing your own sounds.
In a world becoming surrounded by AI, what are your thoughts on AI and machine learning in music production?
I find it very exciting and of course like most people overwhelming, mainly because we already live in a world of over abundance of digital media and the thought of AI making infinite art on a daily basis, seems to distort things for me. I think it’s pretty well agreed upon that any new tool will be used interestingly by artists, and I do believe it’s possible for new art forms to emerge, once it escapes the current use of it, which often seems more novel. I do look up to people like Holly Herndon who seem to have a thoughtful and caring attitude towards a future involving AI alongside music making, which seems healthy as anything else often leads to extremism.
How do you find having a social media presence has changed for musicians since you first started / the last decade? Sharing any personal life stuff vs work stuff?
It’s a very extreme situation where people who enjoy interacting with their audience / building one are kind of rewarded and those who do not are somewhat punished. I am quite active on social media because I like to share a little bit of my workings with people, but I do try to keep it somewhat mysterious because I don’t like people to fully understand why and how I do things. I think a lot of new artists rush to expose every single inch of their art practice, which seems unappealing to me. Mystery is a big part of art for me, so I think over sharing is counter productive.
You grew up in Leicester, live in London but spend a great part of your time travelling and playing around the world. What’s the importance of being based in London both personally, and for your work?
For me it is that cliche thing of being in a city where a lot of people share the goal of wanting to make art and be surrounded by great art of all kinds. I found it extremely hard for the first few years when I moved to London because I had no money at all but slowly began teaching music part time before I even attempted to make a living from my music. I am grateful for having witnessed a lot of inspiring things in a city like London, which shaped my 20s and 30s hugely.
You’ve been signed to Erased Tapes since day one (if we’re not mistaken). Who are the artists on the label you’ve most enjoyed collaborating with?
I really enjoyed working with Peter Broderick a long time ago, where we managed to create a unique electronic / folk-esque song.
I enjoyed recently producing a drum beat for Douglas Dare, which he wrote an entire song around. I am a big fan of Daniel Brandt (who coincidently lives on the same street as me!), so I would like to properly collaborate with him on something in the near future, as I feel we have so much in common but also have very different backgrounds at the same time!
Alongside your work, artists on Erased Tapes such as Kiasmos and Nils Frahm have featured in some popular surf films. Were you aware of this?
I wasn’t actually aware but I know their music works amazingly well for many types of cinema, I can imagine it contrasting the physical movement and complimenting the beauty of the sea very easily!
When writing new music, do you have certain tracks you work more to be performed live than others?
I am aware that certain things might be exciting live and that can influence me to write towards that. I constantly test new material in clubs/venues/festivals and learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t and it’s often things you least expect. Often the things you think are too basic and underworked sound exciting and inspiring and the things you composed to “perfection” sound flat and lifeless. I am constantly learning and testing my work, which is rewarding and frustrating!
With doing film scores such as ‘El Caso Figo” for netflix, do you have to get yourself into a different headspace when writing? Is this sort of work something you really enjoy doing or see it more as an actual job?
I am very much into all kinds of composing and very into film itself, so I definitely love working to picture and exploring music in a different way. It’s kind of liberating to make music to film vs making music for music’s sake, because you can achieve so much with so little, as the 2 work together, but it is also very difficult to make things seem convincing and feel right as everything influences the experience.
Do you have a favourite venue which you’ve played at to date which you always love to return to? Do you have a standout or memorable show?
I was very lucky to play the Barbican last year, we did a very detailed kind of retrospective of my music with amazing lighting and some video work – this was very special because I never thought I’d get to perform there, let alone sell it out. I have played in many amazing locations to be honest, just recently an incredible modern church in Bergen, Norway, I have also played iconic venues like Berghain etc.
It’s been 2 years Since you released ‘Now Is’. After putting so much into a body of work like that and then touring it, do you need some time away from making music, or do you feel the need to get straight back into it?
I am quite obsessive and love just exploring/sketching ideas with music. Although I did reach a kind of burn out in 2023, which really made me take some time away from music making and led me to create a more healthy balance in the structure of my life, but I do find making music a natural part of my existence.
You very recently released (Sep ’24) the new single ‘Gaivotas’ (which we loved!) to preview your upcoming ninth album. Can you tell us a little bit about the accompanying music video?
We are super proud of the music video directed by Vincent Duluc-David (filmed in Kyrgyzstan), it is such a beautiful cinematic piece, which feels like a short film to me. This was basically the director/production company’s vision for the song and we gave them total freedom to make this and we loved the result. The song itself is very cinematic to me so I am glad it got to have this beautiful visual partner.
Have you approached this album differently to previous ones whilst writing?
I wrote a lot of the music whilst touring, Many of the songs were started and almost completed on a residency (Lisbon) travelling to shows in tour vans, in hotel rooms in the early hours of the morning. I tried to explore many new things on this album such as unusual drums and a wide range of synth styles, I think the end result is very colourful and diverse. I like music to express many things.
Do you already a release date and tour plan in place in 2025 or will that come later?
It will be released in the first half of 2025, alongside a full European tour and many shows throughout the year.
And just one final question before we leave you, what music are you putting on to accompany a relaxed Sunday morning coffee at home?
Nothing Is Still by Leon Vynehall.
To find out more about Rival Consoles upcoming album and tour in 2025 head to www.rivalconsoles.net
