RIOPY

With evocatively titled albums—including Bliss (2022) and Thrive (2023)—RIOPY's mesmerising mood music is packed with repetitive shimmering melodies. RIOPY is the moniker of Jean-Philippe Riopy, a self-taught pianist composer who discovered his talents when he encountered an instrument during a chance visit to a doctor—a rare excursion to the world outside of the French spiritual sect within which he was raised. Having escaped life under “guru” leadership that banned music, RIOPY (born 1983) developed an interest in Chopin and Satie, influences that can be heard in his writing for screen—such as the 2016 Ikea advert “Every other week”. A major turning point came in 2011 when, after hearing RIOPY perform at a party, Coldplay’s Chris Martin gifted the pianist a Steinway. Martin isn’t the only singer-songwriter to admire RIOPY’s music: in 2023 Lana Del Rey featured “Flo” from the pianist’s 2019 album Tree of Light on her track “Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he’s deep-sea fishing”.