May Garland

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN WONDERLAND’S SPRING 22 ISSUE

Conquering her Saturday hangover, the vocalist, songwriter and law student, George Riley found time to chat with me about her mesmerizing music. Based in Shepherd’s Bush, London, Riley has created hypnotic sonic waves with her latest project, interest rates, a tape that breaks the boundaries of classic R&B through fusing genres of jazz, soul, drum and bass and more across the ten tracks. But at the core of Riley’s songs, she only makes music because it means she gets “to do something that makes me happy with people I love and respect”. 

For the young singer, music is an “insular experience”, she follows her ear and trusts that she knows what sounds good. From listening to Riley speak of songwriting, you can tell this is a passion project for her. Each song creates a sense of intimacy between the artist and her listeners, invoking the same mood or emotion that Riley felt when she wrote it. She hopes people will feel real emotions when they listen to her music, whether it’s love and happiness or anger and hurt. Riley doesn’t shy away from giving us intense feelings. 

The rising star is currently studying a law conversion course at University but singing has always been her real passion and something she has always known she wanted to pursue. Modestly, Riley describes her successful debut into the music industry as the result of “giving it a go”. Her fascination with music began with listening to soulful artists when she was growing up such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Sade, Kelis and Amy Whinehouse. R&B music has particularly resonated with Riley, playing tracks from Destiny’s Child and Craig David on repeat. But when the teenage years hit, it was Hip-Hop and Rap that became mainstays on her playlists. The influences of soul, R&B and catchy dance tracks are transparent in her genre-bending sound.   

As well as the songs that filled her past, Riley takes inspiration from those around her, whether it’s the people she is working with or her friends. “It’s a cliché but the people you surround yourself with are so integral to your well-being.” The musical artist has worked with a plethora of talented musicians to produce great music. A particular standout moment for Riley was collaborating with Anz on “You Could Be” from her EP “All Hours”. Riley wrote and led the vocals on this track, which received global success including a nomination for Track Of The Year at the DJ Mag awards. She looks back on this experience appreciatively. “I’m incredibly grateful to Anz for getting me on the song. She’s a G. The takeaway might be that dance music can be so universally uplifting. It’s so fun, it makes people happy and I’d love to do more of that.” 

Riley’s inspirations and experiences built the musical layers of her sophomore track, “Move” and her mixtape, interest rates, a tape. The artist used a sonic palette of musical flavours and shapeshifting beats to work cohesively to create her unique sound. For the young musician, her creative process varies with who she is working with but she highlights that composing a song idea and the writing process is relatively quick and instant to her, using her strong musical instinct to guide the song’s formulation. “I’m always striving to catch the immediacy of emotion. You get the most honest and heart-wrenching music that way and that’s the shit that I like.” Riley was reluctant to pick a favourite from her mixtape, as each song gives off a different vibe. However, realising how financially elusive the music industry can be, the track that resonates with her at the moment is “Money.” “I’m manifesting cash all day every day!”

One of my personal favourites from George Riley is the sonically smooth, ‘Cleanse Me’. The track was inspired by the climate crisis, whitewashing and the commodification of climate activism in the present day. We spoke about how important music is a powerful medium for political activism but also how Riley uses her music to speak only from personal feelings and does not label herself as a political musician. “There’s an amazing history of activism within music. Gil Scott Heron’s a legend to me. As is Nina Simone. In current times, activism within music seems far more aligned with identity politics than anything else. The experience of releasing and talking about that song felt self-aggrandising to me, I’m not an activist doing the actual work to provoke change, I just spoke on a specific experience, and I felt like talking about this somehow had coverage mis-advertising me as a spokesperson with some sort of authority. It wasn’t purposeful, but I know my place – I’m in no position to tell anyone how to live their life, and I don’t wanna try to! The music I have made since has been a lot more introspective, and less political – and focuses more on the trials and tribulations of interpersonal relationships.”

Since the release of her mixtape, Riley has not given in to the post-pandemic slump and is instead rocking out on stage, performing electric sets at events like Pitchfork Music Festival, Boiler Room’s International Women’s Day 2021, Laylow, and more. The Pitchfork performance being a real highlight for the singer. “I was really pleasantly surprised by the turnout and people knew the words for the first time, people that I don’t know! That was amazing. It felt really good and I hope I can keep doing it.” As Riley was speaking, I was instantly swept back to my first concert after lockdown; senses completely overwhelmed, the smell of spilt beer and sweat in the air, the tightly packed crowd chanting and moving in unison, ears ringing… Good times! We both agreed that live performances have been greatly missed. 

Riley is now working on some new material for us to get excited about and she feels like her sound is maturing with the new songs she’s writing, “my songwriting has definitely evolved, and I’m more aligned with the sound I want to make”. Naturally, I wanted all the details of her latest songs yet to be released and Riley’s response was, “I’ll just say that it’s made with a producer I had admired for a long time and I’m really proud of it. It marks a sonic shift for me, and I’m excited to move into this next musical chapter!”.