Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon break with our Afternoon Tea curators. Need an extra lump of sugar? One more sip? If you have five minutes more (or ten), we have one more hit.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Zach Riley.
Winnipeg singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Zach Riley wears his heart on his sleeve in his new single, “Your Touch,” a feel-good, guitar-driven pop-rock track that beams with gratitude, energy, and emotional clarity. A celebration of the people who keep us grounded, “Your Touch” captures what it means to feel safe in someone’s presence, even on your worst days.
Inspired by his wife, Zach taps into the raw beauty of relational intimacy with sentiments that feel both timeless and refreshingly personal. The song’s emotional anchor is matched by its sonic sparkle – a shimmering blend of pop and rock influences that channel the earnestness of The Band CAMINO and the hook-driven joy of The 1975.
A highlight on the track is the soaring guitar solo, performed by Zach‘s longtime bandmate Alec and marking the first recorded collaboration between the two. “I knew I wanted a guitar solo at the end, but I’m a pretty subpar guitarist,” Zach laughs. “So I asked Alec, and he instantly nailed it. It was exactly what I was hoping for.”
Stream + share “Your Touch” now:
I just feel like “Your Touch” perfectly captures that feeling of having that person in your life that can help take the weight off your shoulders or make you feel whole again when you don’t feel like you’re enough. This song makes me feel really happy honestly. It might be cheesy to say that about your own song, but I remember listening to the full thing for the first time and I just had this big dumb smile on my face. Just a really fun song all around and I love the way it came together. – Zach Riley
EMPTYHANDED (feat. Dylan Marlowe) by Bilmuri
This probably isn’t the type of music that most people would think of when they think of calming music to relax and drink tea to. It’s also probably not the type of music people would expect me to listen to either. I grew up listening to a lot of Pop-Punk, Post Hardcore, Easycore, etc. so bands like this were kinda the start of me finding a musical identity of some sort. Something about heavy instrumentals combined with clean poppy vocals just scratches an itch for me. I can’t really explain it. When this song came out it reminded me of a lot of the songs I grew up with and it was almost sort of nostalgic. So even though this song is definitely on the heavier side and is probably more of a pump up song, I just find it so soothing. I could definitely see myself experimenting with sounds like this somewhere down the line.
This picture is a little cheesy, but when I saw it for the first time it really hit hard. I’ve missed friends’ birthdays, family gatherings, and other important life events because of my music. If I could go back in time I wouldn’t change a thing about my musical journey. But I do feel guilty a lot of the time because I don’t see my friends as often or have as much time for leisure activities that I enjoy. Music is extremely important to me and I can’t see myself doing anything else with my life, but it gets hard sometimes when I don’t get to do the things I used to do before music became a priority.
I’m not the biggest tea drinker, but I started drinking it quite frequently a few years ago. I pulled some muscles in my throat because I wasn’t singing properly and had to go through a sort of rehab process to be able to sing properly again. Tea with honey was one of the things that actually soothed the pain so I started drinking a lot of it. Now I usually drink it on days when I have shows. I really enjoy Lemon tea or anything really citrusy. I haven’t really explored too many different kinds, but anything really lemony is always my go to. Add some honey in there and it’s perfect.
Tea + Me 