‘The Ugly and The Beautiful’ is the debut single from trip-hop artist Riverie, and it introduces ‘Faded Empire’, the EP that follows later this year. Taking lessons from past projects, including Rivers Below Rivers and the house music project Paper Kid, Caroline’s creativity flourishes in this moody, ambitious debut.
Discussing the project, Riverie says:
“I wrote ‘The Ugly and the Beautiful’ and brought it to Andy Barlow of LAMB to produce in his studio in Goa. The room had a window looking out between tall palm trees, and we worked on the song with the trees swaying in the foreground. Underneath that stillness, though, the world outside felt like it was imploding, and I realized I’d been just as lost about myself as I was about everything falling apart around me. The song is about seeing yourself from the outside for the first time — recognizing how much has changed, how much there is to fix, and not fully knowing the person looking back. I was processing the world shattering on the outside, and my own sense of self shattering right alongside it. That’s the thread running through this EP: powerlessness as the world falls apart around us, and the slow work of learning to face it instead of looking away.”
Produced by Andy Barlow (Lamb), the Riverie project was conceived between Goa and the UAE, where the Canadian artist now lives. ‘The Ugly and The Beautiful’ is one of four tracks on the upcoming ‘Faded Empire’ EP, slated for later in the Autumn.
