ACT IV

For years, there was a project on the backburner, simmering.

Called Chrome Empire, this series of 10 singles would be the most experimental Riley would release to date. Futuristic both in subject matter and in sound, this material would be a complete departure from the singer’s previous work. Elements of darkwave, Middle Eastern tonality, and R&B merged into a sci-fi hybrid, featuring lyrics about megacities, robotic sex, severe climate events, and the world the artist saw coming at the end of the 21st Century’s second decade.

Weighty subject matter notwithstanding, Riley was coyly enthusiastic about the new direction Chrome Empire would afford. "One of my life-long dreams has been to successfully weld rock and roll with electronic music, in a way heretofore unheard. It is going to be very futuristic - akin to how The Rolling Stones would have sounded if they'd started playing clubs in Rick Deckard's neighborhood."

2019 brought great change, not only to the tone, but to the team as well. In February of that year, Riley signed with New Vine Records; quickly enamoured with their shared vision, their relentless work ethic, and their magnificent team, Riley and New Vine partnered in an agreement which would see the most compelling period of the artist’s career come to pass. New Vine quickly became an instrumental partner, and a new model for record labels - a 501(c)3 entity, supported directly by patronage and fans themselves.

Touring relentlessly across hundreds of miles, the year saw inaugural performances at festivals in Buffalo and Ithaca, New York, including a beloved guest appearance with moxy rock specialists Maddy Walsh & The Blind Spots for a performance of Bowie’s perennial floor-filler, “Let’s Dance”. During this time, the new lineup honed the Chrome Empire material to a fine point.

Unfortunately, the year also saw great heartbreak. The magnificent percussionist Sesu Coleman departed in July, longing to return to New York City, whose music scene he had helped to define in the 1970s. And the dedicated, ever-faithful bassist Rick Kline, whom Riley had worked with since 2016, moved forward to new pursuits in September. Both of these departures had an irrevocable effect.

Amidst a rigorous live performance schedule, Riley enlisted the aid of award-winning musician Tyler Flewelling, and New Vine’s Executive Producer, John Carter. Quickly, the two gained mastery of the Chrome Empire material on drums and bass, respectively. Together with the stalwart keyboardist Charlie Jones, they set to work on Riley’s very first releases in the Chrome Empire era.

The first single would be called FTR SHK.

“We coined the phrase 'future shock' as an analogy to the concept of culture shock.

With future shock, you stay in one place - but your own culture changes so rapidly that it has the same disorienting effect as going to another culture.”

-Futurists Alvin & Heidi Toffler, 1994.

February 2020 saw the release of Say You Love Me, followed by Evergreen in May of the same year. Shortly afterwards, Riley parted ways with New Vine Records.

In the summer of that year, his musical pursuits were re-energized thanks to a long-awaited collaboration with a dear childhood friend, the one-man indie-electro mastermind Orange Julians. The two created the single Time Machine, under the name the beforetimes; released in September, it was Riley’s most successful songwriting partnership to date.

Subsequently, he continued the Chrome Empire-era releases in October with Free, his first solo release as an independent artist in almost two years.

However, the global COVID-19 pandemic soon inclined Riley to pause the Chrome Empire releases. 10 singles were planned for the first wave of the interconnected Chrome Empire story, with an additional set in preparation for a second wave. “In good conscience, I couldn’t endanger musicians, producers, and fans by gathering during the COVID era,” he noted. “Additionally, I felt it was in bad taste to continue a dystopian storyline that reality was quickly outpacing.”

Free would remain his last single to date.

In the interim, Riley prepared for something new - Act V.