Today marks the release of Rival Consoles' much anticipated new album Overflow — a resonant and explorative soundscape of original music, composed for renowned choreographer Alexander Whitley’s contemporary dance production of the same name.

Exploring themes of the human and emotional consequences of life surrounded by data, the piece echoes the concept of social media, advertising, marketing companies and political factions exploiting our data to gain wealth, political advantage and sow division. Key reading for the project was based around the contemporary philosophical work Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul Han.

Even before the project started, the London-based producer created a lot of sketches in his home studio which acted as a starting point for Whitley to develop the choreography from. An equal amount of work was created in rehearsal, alongside the dancers, then refined at West’s studio between sessions.

“I was in the studio a lot with Alex and the dancers, trying things out throughout the process. And even during dry runs in theatres I was composing short works in the moment on my laptop that ended up being used, such as Scanning, which was made from an electromagnetic recording of the internal workings of an iPhone whilst using social media. In the big data world of social media and cookies everything is invisible, silent and hidden behind a pleasant, enticing aesthetic. I thought it would be interesting to do the opposite and have a very scratchy, mechanical, noisey scanning sound that sheds light on what is actually happening. If everytime our data was taken and sold or used, we heard a weird clicking sound, that would completely change how we perceive it.”

· order Overflow on 2LP · CD · DL
· stream the album
· watch the video for Monster

“A riveting return” — Clash

“The amazement of the album is that it was written for bodies, but still makes a strong impression at home” — A Closer Listen

“A big, ambitious record… masterful and nuanced. A serious work from an intriguing producer” ★★★★ — Music Omh

"It’s rewarding to hear Rival Consoles expand his range and infuse his unique brand of techno with more droning and expansive qualities on Overflow" — PopMatters