Music
Relocation is Rié's key to inspiration
Discover how a 'love-hate' relationship with London has inspired Japanese musician Rié to create stunning music.
12 min
See. Hear. Now. with Rié
Rié performs the tracks St. Martin and Levels exclusively for RedBull.com.
Watch Rié perform St. Martin (from 0m 4s) and Levels (from 7m 46s) in the player above.
Rié is a London art school graduate who signed to Sony Japan aged 19 as a break from painting and released her UK debut EP, Business Trips, earlier this summer. Splitting its heart between Tokyo and the UK capital, the record is produced by both London outfit Theme Park and Japanese producer Hikaru Ishizaki, and deals with the highs and lows of relocation.
A big Kate Bush fan, Rié writes piano pop with detailed melodies that exercise her delicate vocal range. For this See. Hear. Now. session she plays the EP tracks Levels and St. Martin, the latter inspired by her ‘love-hate’ relationship with London – including a dispiriting encounter with a UK music lawyer.
Rié is also channelling these experiences into a blog, How to survive as a Japanese Artist in the UK, where she's been observing reaction to the EP. “Most Japanese bands and artists are about uniqueness, energy and quirkiness,” she writes. “But hardly any of them play music like they’re actually sitting down and talking to you in a down-to-Earth way”. Whatever the point of geographic origin, for Rié music is all about storytelling.
See. Hear. Now. with Rié
© Greg Barnes/RedBull.com
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