I’ve listened to so much music in my lifetime that it’s hard to know exactly when or how I found some artists. Riley is in this camp, but the Outside the Lines EP was in my 2016 Annual playlist. I love having these playlists to go back to and trace my listening adventures. Perhaps my 17-year career in document management has affected me, or maybe I’m just the kind of person who appreciates a well-kept record.
At any rate, ‘Outside the Lines’ starts with a beautiful warm guitar – parallels with Helen’s song from post #21 – with a warm, simple bass line coming in with the vocal. Riley’s voice has a certain character that I’ve never been able to put my finger on, but I have always felt its emotional intensity.
The opening lyrics could just be the beginnings of any other love song, the expression of how someone is affecting you in that clichéd, dramatic way. But – spoilers – it’s not that kind of song.
The last line in the second verse sticks out for me:
You were so graceful
But so untamed
And you were free
But that’s nothing to be ashamed of
In our world today, it feels like more people are telling you how to be, and if you’re not that, well, you should be ashamed. What a relief to be told you have nothing to be ashamed of. It reminds me of some advice I received many years ago: Be as you are.
The instruments pull back in places in the chorus, which helps build some anticipation and makes the post-chorus all the more impactful when it arrives. I have seen this technique in several songs I’ve written about, but it works so well here, given the intensity of the electric guitar, the frenetic tambourine and something glockenspiel-esque hidden in the mix, all sitting under this beautiful ‘oooh’.
Back in the verse, and I love the line “With nothing but the feeling, that it just feels right”. This time in the chorus, we’ve got the addition of rim clicks and electric guitar, which is a nice progression and helps propel us into the bridge. Playing with the dynamics again, we’ve got a sparse guitar and a kick drum for the first half. At this point, the lyrics point to something unrequited or a missed connection, and the feeling continues to build with the introduction of some horns and the lyric “If only our lines would touch”.
The horns carry a few instrumental bars before the outro, with another beautiful line, “You never see your heart break when you’re love blind”. The music is intense at this point, and the backing vocals are also a nice touch, having only come in during the second part of the bridge. The hooky “oooh” is also back peeking out between the final lines to the end. Although, maybe I should say outside the lines 🫣
The chords for this song appear to be quite simple, with minimal chord changes. I’ve spent a long time trying to figure out chords, using a lot of them in my songs and feeling like I could never know enough theory or chords to make me a good songwriter. Turns out, the songs I love are rarely complicated in that way. It’s the message, the delivery and the melody that do a lot of the heavy lifting.
I’ve enjoyed listening to Riley’s music evolve over the years, and I look forward to many more songs to come. You can get a taste of some of the songs that have defined his career on the album The River.