Riki, French Police - 10/15/25 - Fresno, CA - Strummer's

Riki took the stage first at a sold out Strummer's. Her sultry, plaintive, almost whispered vocals paired with the smooth sway of her hips got the night off to a very sensual start. The industrial driving dance rhythms, with syncopated beats and layered synths, provided an energetic backdrop to the more laid back stage presence. She was making love to the audience, not fucking us. She took out a guitar for a few songs and used it to add more layers to the beats, no solos just simple chords played at 16th notes like it was another drum. I’m not sure if Riki is the band or the just singer, and not sure at all what she’s singing about, but the combination of sounds, the juxtaposition of the heavy beats with her light, subdued voice was almost entrancing. She even played a melodica at the end of the set, which was very cool. I can't recall ever seeing someone play one before. It sounded like an accordion synth. 

French Police are a trio with no drummer, but that didn’t stop them from getting the crowd moving with their recorded drum tracks. Listening to them makes me feel like I should be driving a corvette around Miami at midnight in 1985. Their music had a heavy synth component, but I’m pretty sure they made those sounds with their guitars because there wasn't anyone on stage playing the synth. The vocals were buried underneath everything. Below the guitars, the bass, the drum tracks, the stage... which made them hard to hear and understand. But allegedly they’re in Spanish. They had a shoegaze stage presence, which fits the steady, layered nature of the music. All three of them wore sunglasses, which totally added to the 80s vibe.