MUSIC by RIEKO is the centre of her artistic constellation, and the core of her oracular storytelling – experimental pop and contemporary classical mythologies for collective healing and spiritual expansion

Zakuro (2026)

Zakuro, Japanese for “pomegranate,” features sweeping string arrangements over crushing electronic beats, cavernous minimalist piano, and vocals emoting roaring lament to yearnings of hope. The concept for the four-track EP is inspired by the Buddhist tale of Kishibojin, a child-devouring demon who undergoes a spiritual transformation to protect the vulnerable, consuming instead pomegranate seeds as the closest replacement to flesh. Zakuro is a tender proposition of hope through anticipatory grief in the face of political and ecological collapse.

“Fruit” is directed by Jesse May Fisher (Agile Films ), co-creative directed by RIEKO, and choreographed by Lewis Walker. The film has been selected for the BAFTA-qualifying 2025 Aesthetica Short Film Festival.

Zakuro is co-produced with Mariano Sibilia (Yraki) and Samuel Barbier-Ficat, mastered by Enyang Ha, and recorded with a string quartet. The images are shot by Lucy Feng with wearable artefacts by HYDRA.

Zakuro lyrics

If you made me
Would you save me
Or would your love let me down?
If you made me
Would you save me
Or would you love?
Your sacred fruit I hold
but oh my god you’re squeezing me
I’m making you a home
so take my seeds at bury me
Starved to bone
Skin to stone
You bleed me
You bleed me
You bleed me
You bleed me
I’m bursting inside and I want you to know
I’m dreaming of nothing and I’m letting go
Nourishing you, nourishing me
In silence, in violence, you won’t be alone
In silence, in violence, you won’t be alone

Alone…
You need me
At the heart of grief is love
And mine is always beating
In the hope of something real
For something to believe in
Remember
I’ll make peace in Earth
In ember
In the art of life and loss
My love we’re only fleeting
In the rage of fire
Water me and keep me breathing
And keep me tender
I’ll make peace in Earth
In ember

The only way out is through
The only way out is through
One day in bloom with you

From fruit to flower
Our route to power
You water me and keep me breathing
You water me and keep me breathing
You water me and keep me breathing
You water me and keep me breathing
Time has swung the pendulum
Out of the shadows rising above
Pray in the garden for the fruit on your tongue

Empires fall in the light of the sun

I will love you kingdom come
(Empires fall in the light of the sun)
Hold you in resilience
(Pray in the garden for fruit on your tongue)
Through the equilibrium
(Empires fall in the light of the sun)
Softer still for worlds to come
(Pray in the garden for fruit on your tongue)

Empires fall…
Empires fall in the light of the…

Regenesis (2023)

RIEKO · Regenesis

As a recent artist-in-residence at the Tate and a graduate of the Royal College of Art, the music from RIEKO’s debut EP Regenesis exists between the art world and the music industry (released 2023 via her own label Diasporas Now). She first performed in art galleries and queer nightclubs, which then led to performances at the V&A Museum, the Barbican Centre, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and more. Regenesis as a larger world-building project is a speculative mythology inspired by the Shinto creation myths as a meditation on cycles of life and death.

Her art film and music video to her single “Ashes to Ashes” premiered exclusively on NOWNESS Asia, with screenings at 180 the Strand and Soho House. After the premiere of “Ashes to Ashes” on NTS and BBC Radio and a techno remix by Luca Eck, she hosted numerous screenings, talks, and performances across the U.K., France, Italy, Malta, Lithuania, and Sweden, with press coverage in magazines like Aesthetica, Sleek, Metal, and Coeval.

Regenesis lyrics

I’ve lived a million lives
And a million lives before you, before me
We were enmeshed in the primordial sludge from which we came
The water that pulses through your electric cells
Is the water that pulses through me
I am not one but a multiplicity
In mother tongue I’m dreaming
In mother tongue, I’m screaming

In mother tongue I, I, I, I
In mother tongue I, I, I, I

In mother tongue I’m dying to be heard
I’m dying to be heard
I’m dying to be

In flesh and blood my mother tongue
In flesh and blood my mother
Maybe I’ll keep you in my good graces tonight, in my safe spaces tonight
Maybe I’ll heal you
Maybe I’ll feed you with hunger that burns you inside
Maybe I’ll free you
Maybe I’ll find you in all of the places you hide
Maybe I seek you
Believe me, I’ve lived a million lows, a million highs, a million lows and a million highs
Maybe I’ll heal you
Maybe I’ll heal
I will rise, and you will rise too
And I’ll be here until there’s nothing left to lose
I will fall, and you will fall too
Ashes to ashes, this is the cycle
Ashes to ashes, in time we’ll become
We will find what we once knew
That I was never separate from you
And in time we will become
Ashes to ashes, this is the cycle
Ashes to ashes, in time we’ll become