Riley Pearce Announces Debut Album ‘The Water & The Rough’ out 6/10; Shares Song+Video “Furniture”
February 4, 2022 BY Jason Currell
Indie singer/songwriter Riley Pearce announces his debut full-length album, The Water & The Rough, set for release June 10, 2022. Written before and during the pandemic, it possesses a depth of experience delivered through wafting melodies and quietly introspective lyrics, creating an album that seems at once peaceful and restless.
His new single “Furniture” is exactly that, as he ruminates on lockdown with his partner in their small apartment…the repetitiveness, the silliness, the stir-crazy of it all. Riley says, “The days all blend together and your interactions with each other grow weirder and weirder…it’s neither good nor bad, it’s just strange. It’s an observation of that absurd time for us, spending so much time in that apartment that we were becoming a part of the furniture.”
The single is accompanied by an endearing music video featuring real-life couple Stan and Gwenda, who met in Perth while ballroom dancing in 1956 and have been together ever since…
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There’s an ease to the music Riley makes. That’s testament to how effortlessly he became a songwriter. Watching his dad in cover bands inspired him to pick up the guitar. By 17, he was busking at local farmer’s markets—playing Dire Straits and Jack Johnson covers but sneaking in a few original folky compositions about what he saw around him or the relationships he had formed.
Riley attended the University of Western Australia, where he studied marketing and finance, then shifted to the music business, which inspired him to make even more original music. “My grades took a hit,” he says, laughing, “but I did graduate!” With that mix of talent and business acumen, early songs, such as the gorgeously escapist “Brave,” landed on influential music blogs, and pivotally, on Spotify. And that’s how he built his loyal grassroots following. “I’m always so amazed when I play a show, and someone is like, ‘I’ve driven three to four hours to see you play. Your music means so much to one person. It’s the most humbling and amazing thing. A little nugget of inspiration to keep me going.”
On The Water & The Rough, a push and pull between inertia and motion, optimism, and pensiveness create gentle ebbs and flows. This is an album full of authentic, relatable observations.
