OUT OF MYSELF

Out of Myself is the album that introduced Riverside to the world...and for a first album, this is as grand an entrance as can be imagined. Imbued with an astonishing sophistication of sound and vision, it is confident and forward-looking; call it what you will---prog rock, prog metal---this album married the various band-member influences (and inevitable comparisons to Certain Other Bands) into one glorious progressive bundle. Influences aside, Riverside marched into progressive consciousness as an entity unto themselves, and have managed to maintain their unique sound throughout their subsequent stylistic incarnations.

As it turns out, an early version of their music, raw and unrefined, exists on a 7-track "demo". A couple of the tracks from this made it onto Out of Myself more or less intact (just cleaned up), but others are very differently conceived (such as "The Curtain Falls"), one has completely disappeared into oblivion (never rerecorded as anything that I have found), and one reappeared much later as a track on the "Conceiving You" single. This bit of history provides a fascinating glimpse of the wobbly first steps of what would eventually become one of the most polished and professional musical outfits around.

Out of Myself pulls no punches: it kicks off with "The Same River", a 12-minute prog opus, and from there manages to encompass an impressive range of styles: delicate acoustic ballads, pure face-stomping instrumental metal, screams and growls, the willingness to wander off in different musical directions and back again. We discover Mariusz Duda's intimate, introspective lyric style, and his lovely distinctive voice. And behind it all what would become Riverside's hallmark sound: Piotr Grudziński's great winding guitar themes and melodies and Duda's intricate bass playing, anchored by solid drumming and the vast soundscape wash of the keyboards. It would take another album and a new keyboard player for all these elements to coalesce, but this first album is remarkable for how thoroughly it introduces us to the essence of Riverside.

And yet, for all its unquestioned quality, this is not an album I want to listen to very often. It does not draw me in. It is unquestionably a grand debut, and it clearly indicates the future trajectory for the band, but I think the album shows more potential than it does achievement--it is clear that there is much more to come. The sound is still somewhat raw and lacks nuance, and while the songs are ambitious and confident, none of them are truly great, with one exception.

"The Curtain Falls" is the first of Riverside's truly inspired signature tracks, a song that exemplifies the band at their transportive best. Lush, complex, magnificently melodic, this is a song that can hold its own against anything the band has come up with since. However, Out of Myself is unusual in that in has only one truly exceptional track (although I'm willing to argue that "In Two Minds" flirts with greatness). At the end of the day, I have two issues with the album: First, "The Same River" and "The Curtain Falls" bracket a series of tracks that foreshadow the future greatness of the band, but there is a certain lack of polish, and while the songs are strong, they are not compelling.

Secondly: you may have noticed I mention "The Curtain Falls" as if it is the last track on the album, and for all intents and purposes, it is--when that song ends the album really does feel complete. It is an eye-blinking WtF?? moment to realize that there is in fact one more song.

"OK" is not a track that sees much light of day on best-of-Riverside lists or as a youtube video in Facebook groups; if it there is a live version I have never heard of it. That song is like the band's crazy relative, kept hidden in the attic bedroom but best not discussed in public. It is very much an oddball in the Riverside canon, a slow jazz/blues fusion experiment complete with trombone...and it feels like a complete afterthought. Why on earth is it even there?

I have an idea about that. Along with Mariusz Duda's songwriting chops, Out of Myself introduced us to a certain expansiveness of his musical vision. This was the first album in what became the Reality Dream Trilogy, a triumvirate linked by a broad thematic lyrical arc. This habit of mind is patently obvious now, what with a sixth Riverside album on the way completing a second trilogy, and the three linked lyric albums of the solo project Lunatic Soul. Duda doesn't envisage material a mere album at a time, but in great conceptual swathes.

At any rate, the number three, and its multiples clearly had some importance: Out of Myself and the other two albums in the Trilogy---Second Life Syndrome, and Rapid Eye Movement--have three word titles. What's more, they all have nine tracks each. And it seems that despite what the actual structure of the album demanded, the anomalous "ok" was shoehorned into Out of Myself to make up the number.

Well, that's my hypothesis. It may also be as simple as they just thought it was good idea to tack it on. (As an aside: the word-count of the titles of the next three albums follows a different pattern, but a pattern nonetheless).

Out of Myself is an exceptional debut album, demonstrating great assurance and remarkably few growing pains. I don't find it their best album by any means, it does not draw me to listen to it the way other Riverside albums do. I do know that it is a beloved part of the band's discography, and I can appreciate that even if I don't find it so myself.

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