The World Cafe Live stage lights brighten as a lanky, blonde-haired and blue eyed boy walks on. He introduces himself as Temple University freshman, Riley Timmer. The emcee cuts him off, saying that he wasn’t done talking yet. Riley blushes and apologizes. He checks the tuning on his guitar one last time, adjusts his microphone and begins to strum. His melodic and soulful voice electrifies the room.
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“I became seriously interested in music around the age of thirteen, when I started listening to music other than standard pop and found some really beautiful music and talented musicians in the process.” says Timmer.
The Northern Virginia native is a Management Information Systems major in the Fox School of Business. But unlike most Fox students, Riley isn’t driven in terms of a career.
“All that really matters to me is good friends and family and being able to do the things you love. I don’t have a specific field I want to go into, as long as I get to build relationships with people I enjoy being around.”
He originally began taking up guitar because his brother had started to learn the bass guitar, and he wanted to learn an instrument too. Something that started as a petty move to be cooler than his brother actually stuck. Riley has been playing the guitar for 10 years now. He has also been playing the piano for four years and the drums for six.
Timmer’s music is inspired by Ben Howard, Dallas Green (the man behind City and Colour) and Darwin Deez. He writes most of his own songs, but also spends time covering his favorite alternative artists. He doesn’t necessarily have an ultimate goal when it comes to musical accomplishments, because he focuses on playing only for his happiness.
“I literally can’t get let down if I stay focused on making music for the pure joy of it, not the potential of making money with it. I’m afraid that maybe music being my job would turn it into something I hate and something that feels forced.”
When discussing Temple and the greater Philadelphia area, Riley mentions the onslaught of musical opportunities he’s taken advantage of. He utilizes Temple’s recording studios and has made friends that collaborate on songs with him. He’s played at open-mic nights and even recorded his first full-length album at a studio in Philadelphia.
“I’ve met some really passionate performers here at Temple. It’s astounding how musically talented these students are at such a young age. Meeting some of these kids and seeing how hard they work and their creativity makes me work even harder on my own stuff, and pushes me to get out of my dorm room and play publicly too.”
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If I wake up and deal with the consequences it won’t change a damn thing. Sometimes you gotta take that risk, just to know what it’s like after you did.
His strums quietly fade out; the audience feels a reverberating sense of awe that such a powerful voice could come from an 18-year-old college student. Riley gazes out over the crowd. His friends, who are sitting at one of the nearby tables, beam and clap enthusiastically, obviously proud. He feels accomplished; he poured out his heart and it turned into lyrics.
“[My lyrics] are just my attempts to make sense of my situations at the time that I’m writing them. A lot of my songs are written for or about certain people, some are about the way I wish my friendships/relationships were, and some are simply my observations about the world as I see it, posing questions that I’ve asked myself without finding the answers.”
While he doesn’t intentionally have a lyrical theme that ties together all of his music, most of the songs on his album follow his journey through his first semester of college, and the two dominant moods and attitudes he felt during that time.
“Two songs, Slip and I Might, are really focused on being present, acting on feelings, and really weaving my in-the-moment words into the songs. But my other original on the album, You’ll Never Know, was a little more general; it takes a step back at how a lot of situations seem to go over a long period of time. In this song, I show what happens when I overthink things and go big-picture, while the others are super personal and show my other mindset about being in the moment.”
Riley writes with intention. He is a deep thinker, thus, his lyrics are meaningful and influential. While he comes off as shy to most, Riley opens up as confident and noticeably intelligent after just one conversation. The hilarious, and often crass, jokes that escape his mouth come as a surprise given his calm demeanor.
In addition to academics and music, Riley is involved on campus. He is a probationary member of the music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (and no, they don’t have parties). He also plays for the Temple University bowling team. He spends 2-3 hours writing and practicing music, as well as a significant amount of time finding new music on Spotify.
“I spend hours on end going to the gym to keep up my sweet dad bod and reading every John Green novel ever written. Oh, and eating. Definitely eating.”
You can find Timmer pretending to study at the TECH Center or at TUF, because he’s “too insecure about going to IBC”. You can also find him trying to win over a girl by serenading her with his cover of Hozier’s “Cherry Wine”. Did I mention he’s single? His charm, humor, boyish grin and amazing vocals are sure to win over any woman.
Riley’s debut album, Window, went on sale on Friday, March 18. Find it on iTunes or Spotify. Watch out world, we may just have another Jack Garratt on our hands.