Riley Pearce

Riley Pearce began performing as a street musician in Perth, where his compositions draw from personal contemplation and a tone of quiet fatigue. His debut EP, We Are Fools, appeared first, followed by the 2015 single “Brave” that spread widely online and later anchored the 2016 release Outside the Lines. Extensive international touring ensued, accompanied by further EPs, among them Love and All That Stuff in 2021.

Pearce taught himself lefthanded guitar technique in childhood by copying televised players. He subsequently performed at Perth farmers markets and open-mic nights until the favorable response to his 2013 EP We Are Fools generated headline dates across Australia.

After living six months in Montana, he issued “Brave” in mid-2015; the introspective track accumulated millions of streams and was placed on Outside the Lines the following year. Placements on Shameless and Shadowhunters followed, as did the mid-2018 EP Eastbound and his cover of “Blue Christmas” on Rhino’s Christmas Covered compilation. The Landing Songs arrived in April 2019, and Nettwerk Records signed Pearce that July.

Once international dates concluded, he moved to Melbourne, his city of early childhood, where fresh surroundings prompted the Acoustic EP of reimagined material in early 2020. Later that year Maybe I Can Sleep It Off appeared, produced by Andy Lawson, who also lent Pearce a special-edition Fender Jaguar for the sessions. A return to Perth preceded the March 2021 release of Love and All That Stuff on Nettwerk.