Rival Consoles seem to channel a retro science fiction film aesthetic with “Running” from its new album Now Is (which released on October 14, 2022 via Erased Tapes). The steady, accented beat and the rapid, angular echoes of tone and bright melodic cast convey a sense of motion with distorted white noise streaking like wind. One imagines large empty spaces on a distant planet long lightly colonized with small urban areas connected by conveyances that leave one with the leisure time to take in and be impacted by the environment. Composer Ryan Lee West imbues the track with a textural component in the rhythm as more ethereal drones bubble up and drift off so that one does feel like one is inside a kind of machine that effects travel and captures the complexity of the device and its interaction with the surrounding environment in the arrangements for a holistic listening experience that grounds the music even as it captures what it might be like to spend unstructured time in a peaceful alien world. Now Is is now available digitally and on vinyl and CD. Listen to “Running” on YouTube and follow Rival Consoles at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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