Colorado-based producer Mental Health Consumer, the project of Brian Ruskin, unveils a captivating debut in The Echoes I Sent, fusing textured electronics, pulsing rhythms, and melodic charm with strongly atmospheric prowess. Eclectic structural journeys await, shifting from serene introspection to striking bursts of intensity. Ruskin has spent over two decades crafting innovative music under other aliases like Gears in the Rain and Escale (with Jiri Blazek). Through his netlabel Believe in Billy Records, he continues to blend live instrumentation with digital experimentation.

The Echoes I Sent commences with its riveting title track, a thorough showcase of the project’s talent for textural build-ups and sonic expanses. A thickly reverberating synth and pit-pattering percussion meld with intriguingly hypnotic flair, complemented by a gradual, swelling undercurrent. Effervescent, dreamy synth tones ease in seamlessly thereafter, as the rhythms expand from the more subdued pattering into a playful beat. It makes for a spacey, inviting success — then moving into the buzzing intensity of “Sometime Later,” which dazzles in its dynamic tonal ranges between restrained synth minimalism and flourishing multi-layered brightness.

The meditative “Pads on the Walls” is another delight, caressing with a whirring synth entrancement that evolves into blissful rhythmic warmness. Likewise in tone, “Dreamy Together” excels with a glimmering, starry-eyed introspection. “Fight Fire” enamors in a different spectrum entirely, culminating in grimy guitar tones and a heavy rhythmic backdrop that consumes in its ardor. Across these different levels of intensity and dispositions, the songs on The Echoes I Sent consistently excel with artistic vision and atmospheric allure.

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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

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