FEATURE:
Spotlight
pretty much as we speak, the wonderful George Riley is an artist that people need to clock and get involved with. A rising talent who is producing such wonderful music, every song she releases seems to surpass the previous one! I am going to come to her 2021 mixtape, interest rates, a tape, soon. It is something that everyone should listen to; hearing this wonderful young artist deliver such important, instantly brilliant, and original music. With new singles like Sacrifice proving Riley is a talent to watch closely, I wonder whether she has plans for an E.P. or album later in the year. Her time and exposure at Glastonbury will open her to new audiences and give her a career-high (so far) live experience. It must be a treat hearing Riley up close and personal! It is hard to genre-lise her music and describe which other artists she reminds me of. I think that is a good thing. Whilst she does put out important messages about race, the climate, greed, old love, and belonging, the music and vocals are so accessible. A stunning artist who will grace the music industry with her presence for decades more, go and follow her (social media links are below). I cannot see any interviews this year with Riley. Therefore, I will drop a few in from last year. Before that, this quickfire Fred Perry interview provided some background about Riley’s favourite music and upbringing. I have selected a few questions and answers that caught my eye:
“Name, where are you from?
George Riley, London, Shepherds Bush.
Describe your style in three words?
Express every day.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
James Baldwin. Just wanna call him up and be like James, my man what the hell do we do!? A friend recommended me 'The Fire Next Time' which is a great short intro to his writing but if you really want to cry go read 'Tell Me How Long The Trains Been Gone'.
A song that defines the teenage you?
'Regulate' by Warren G or 'Doomsday' by the late MF DOOM. That’s summer teenage memories for real.
One record you would keep forever?
I hope I keep every record I have forever but defo 'Water No Get Enemy' by Fela Kuti, the classic.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
'Hangin' On A String' by Loose Ends. Love to aunty dance any place, any time.
A song you wished you had written?
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart' by Al Green. Which I think was originally written by the Bee Gees, but it’s the Al Green version that really gets me going.
Best song to turn up loud?
'A Greater Love' by Yves Tumor”.
I want to come to an interview from CRACK. A truly memorable and brilliant lyricist, George Riley’s videos are equally arresting. Here is an artist that has all the raw talent and arsenal to go as far as she wants in music. It is really exciting to see it all unfold:
“The 23-year-old’s artistic subject matter often details society’s fractures and issues pertinent to her generation: the taxing nature of social media, the climate crisis, the grind to make ends meet. Songs like last year’s TRIXXX namechecks Geoffrey Chaucer over ominous, creeping production sitting somewhere between R&B and trip-hop: “Float toward paycheck/ Succeed need safety net,” she asserts. Her visuals are equally imaginative. In her newest video for Power, directed by fellow rising singer Joviale, Riley fashioned herself into a Hilton-esque socialite, complete with a bobbed wig, flashy sports car and miniature white dog, Coco. Moments later, the protagonist is a gleeful purple demon resembling a terranean Ursula. She bludgeons her former self to death; a visual representation of her ego taking over her.
It sounds dark, but Riley is bubbly when explaining her vision. She likes to present serious topics with “a bit of fun” and is eager to reflect the world around her playfully. “I get my inspiration everywhere really,” she beams. “I never studied music; I went down a more academic route because of my parents [her father is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster]. I think that’s pushed me to be in different spaces and think about stuff outside of music. I journal a lot, so I don’t tend to think about lyric writing too much – it kind of comes out naturally.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Ivor Alice
Power will feature on her upcoming project titled Interest Rates; a tape, due for release at the end of June. It’ll be the first complete body of work in her still minimal discography that began in 2019, with Herstory. Interest Rates, she tells me, is informed by a love for multiple genres – dub, jungle, alternative R&B – and produced with regular collaborator Oliver Palfreyman. The two met by chance at a festival a few years back, hitting it off over a shared love of the underground styles that have come to define their work together. Take Power’s percussion, glitchy with fluttering jungle beats, or the way Cleanse Me spends the majority of its three minutes muted and near-acapella, until Palfreyman’s gong-like synths spring in towards its close. “This is me wanting to show the breadth of sounds that have inspired me,” she says, “because I don’t subscribe to just one thing.”
Now, Riley sees her music as a chance to express her identity, ideas and above all, her independence. “If you’re Black or femme, there is turmoil in being an artist and marketing yourself, and then being on social media that’s subject to all of these politics,” she shares. “It feels like you have to do everything to subscribe to the norm – the colourism, sexism, all of that – to be liked and accepted. It’s not fun.” And in an industry that is so often mentally and financially draining, she wants to keep her creativity safe from outside pressure. “There’s obviously the tangible aspect of surviving off doing what you do. That’s important, but at the same time, you can’t put the onus on art as the only source that pays you – because right now it’s not paying me, but it’s definitely fun. I don’t ever want that feeling to go away”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mathias Karl Gontard
Before coming to a review of interest rates, a tape, i-D spoke to the remarkable George Riley last year. A year that was still seeing restrictions because of the pandemic, the London-based artist was, perhaps, hoping that she could play more and deliver these incredible songs to her fans. I am glad she can make up for lost time. I love the final points of the interview:
“1. You can call her ‘Grandma George’
“I’m 23 but I honestly feel 83 — I’m very nostalgic. I don’t know what the right time [for me] is but this isn’t it. I’m not very internet. I hate everyone being all up in everyone else’s business… it’s not for me. I like books, good chat, good food, good music, an olive, a glass of wine. That’ll do me.”
2. Songwriting is her emotional outlet
“I’m super emotional and would be so lost without it. I’m very grateful to be able to make something and feel better -- feel relief and feel detached from it. I don’t know that I tell stories as such, not in the way that some of my favourite songwriters do, I just let whatever’s in my head come out and it sounds like that; a bit of a collage.”
3. You basically can’t pigeonhole her or her work
“It spans a lot of genres and I guess I’m nothing but an amalgamation of influences that is very mixed and eclectic. Oliver Palfreyman’s production is the same in that way. But if I had to answer I guess it’s quite ‘future’, quite ‘city’, quite ‘London’, quite ‘soulful’. And I can’t speak for anyone else but it makes me feel good.”
4. George reckons her music would be a good soundtrack for a sci-fi cult classic
“The Fifth Element… if there were more Black leads.”
5. She’s built an Afrofuturist world around her forthcoming mixtape
“The aesthetic is based quite heavily on The Fifth Element: great outfits, fabulous colours… a retro-futurist, Afrofuturist kinda vibe. This influencer type girl gets gifted tickets to Soho Moon (Soho House on the moon -- big coloniser energy). Anyway, she goes there and it’s awful. You have to level up into these skins like on Fortnite. I’ve not played, but I hear things. So yeah, they only cater to white people's hair, aesthetics, that kind of thing. But she has to stay to get the content, so she gets really pissed. She’s also mourning an ex, and promptly decides to return to Earth, rescinds her contract with the white influencer mafia and tries to figure out life on Earth. So… let me know if you hear that in the music!”.
I will end up with a positive review for interest rates, a tape. I first heard it very recently, but I was won over and invested the very moment I heard it. This review highlights the multiple strengths and layers of a release from an artist who is going to be a major influencer and star very soon:
“George Riley didn’t grow up around instruments or within a family of talented musicians. As a child, the West London native focused on academics leading her to study law. Her music however, is free of restrictions and is created within an emotional place. She uses songwriting as her platform to express her inner thoughts on relationships and the world we live in.
Riley entered the music scene with her 2019 single 'Herstory'. The track is dedicated to those at the crosshairs of racial injustice and sexism.
“My words are empty if you ain’t open”
Her debut album, ‘interest rates, a tape’, finds her having progressed even deeper within her craft. Musically, the project blends the experimental with the pace and rhythms of House and weightlessness of Free Jazz. Her deliberate directness makes the messages crystal clear, empowering some and challenging others to do better.
A standout track for me was ‘say yes’ a collaboration with London’s Joe Armon-Jones. This slow-paced track compliments Riley, as she urges her listeners to take control of their power. As the waterfalls of percussion and keys swing, so Riley moves between melody and spoken word.
"You just have to follow all your feelings,
not be afraid to feel things,
you don’t necessarily need meaning"
Following track 'poomplexed', features an upbeat DIY House percussion arrangement and layered rhythmic loops of harmony. it evolves into a work of pure Acid House, only to return to a diversity of sounds that give Riley the freedom to be daring and show a different side of herself. Despite the range of tempos Riley always dictates the terms and shows complete control.
On the devastatingly short 'hi, how are you?(..)' She shows spectacular poise as she considers rekindling an old love.
“I’ve been trying my best not to think about you”
Riley finds a way to make the listeners feel the weight of the situation by drawing out agonising notes that draw gut wrenching desire. She trusts us to be with her as she contemplates love and loss, leaving us at an emotional standstill.
Towards the project’s close, Riley delivers a rush of energy on 'money', a catchy track dedicated to the all mighty dollar. Its youthful exuberance showcases Riley can sway a crowd as much as she can captivate their hearts. Overall, 'interest rates, a tape' strikes a warm balance between meticulously crafted and playfully experimental. The album’s free-flowing nature feels like a rough sketch that ends up being a detailed portrait”.
Go and properly acquaint yourself with George Riley if you have not heard her music. A genuinely promising artist who is going to enjoy this very varied and busy career, it is going to be great seeing what the rest of this year holds in store. When it comes to new artists who have their own sound and are definitely worth exploring and standing by, the brilliant George Riley is…
ONE of our very best.
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