Breaking off into her own dimension, Los Angeles solo artist RIKI introduced latest album, “Gold,” as a pivotal moment to start anew. RIKI uses the metal as symbolism for transformation. Her tracks, found on the album, leave space for fantasy and exploration. Check out 80’s downtempo synth pop groove “Florence & Selena,” produced by Joshua Eustis, below. You can learn more about RIKI, who you may know from Crimson Scarlet, in a following Q&A. RIKI is touring on “Gold” in the US + Europe in 2022.
How do you feel about RIKI in relation to Crimson Scarlet?
It is a totally different beast! Riki has a lot of momentum and freedom for me as my brainchild, Crimson Scarlet was a group effort and much more rooted in the music scene.
I can definitely feel the spaces you’ve created with your tracks – how do you know when the “pause is just right”?
It’s more of a feeling than anything else, sometimes you need to take a full breath between two songs and others have a momentum that keeps running between one to another. It’s a gut feeling of going with the flow.
Visually, where do you imagine your songs in relation to the physical world?
Interesting question, I hope for my songs to be a connective tissue, like a bridge of magnetism between the listener and their environment or even one person to another. In a more cerebral way – I would like them to serve as a bridge between a listener and their memory or fantasy. I always have my own visual narrative for the songs and that’s why music videos have such exciting potential.
What symbolic power did you imagine when working on Gold?
The primary symbolic power that I had in mind while working on Gold is transformation. The old alchemic holy-grail of “lead into gold” played into the title here. There’s strength in transformation that I most admire, it involves flexibility- a willingness to both take in and let go- and the force energy to roll into metamorphosis.
Do you have any other collaborations aside from Joshua Eustis in the works?
I have a US tour coming up with Choir Boy in spring! Also, some digital art collaborations in the works – more to come on this!
