No Side Effects
Swelling with the sound of electronic angels, gentle piano and twinkling orchestration, the opening number on Tim Osborne’s album, Soul Nature is a gift of comfort from the very first note. The cut is called Whispers from Eternity and it makes me wonder what the resonance of a light heart would sound like. You can hear floating notes of warmth and inspiration as they are lifted by golden autumn leaves that never fall to the ground.
The main title track Soul Nature, a hauntingly sad tune, is a rare opportunity for introspection. A gentle, flowing piano score and placid companion strings let you prop your chin on your hand and daydream to your heart’s content. Your thoughts go forth like a summer morning’s fog and expand until there is nothing to be seen or felt. And yet your thoughts remain solid. This tune is an excellent representation of Osborne’s ability to compose with strong ambient elements that are lighter than air.
Time with Friends is my favorite track on the album. It is a tune that is what it says. As the music unfolds you can picture in your mind their arrival at the door, your offer of refreshment and then getting down to the business of delving into each other’s worlds. Osborne is correct when he writes that we have few real friends during our lifetimes and they should be cherished like an extra day of life.
Bringing color and whimsy to the album, the tune Dragonfly Blue is an afternoon walk in the woods, an unscheduled visit to a pond and a dash through a thunderstorm. The music is fragile and strong at the same time. When I was a kid growing up in New England we called dragonflies “sewer needles”. We thought that they had magical powers to heal your wounds if they decided to land on you. Osborne’s music still allows you to believe in the magic.
Listen to the Rain is another song that promotes self-contemplation as the wind whispers its arrival and drop by drop, the rain falls like friendly fingers tapping on your door. The tune adds a gentle calliope sound to a day of glossy green leaves and yellow slickers. As the mist rolls off the mountain you just know that the world will be cleaner and quieter that before. The music is assurance.
Lastly, Ocean of Light completes the album. A billion stars dot the ocean like the eyes of every soul that has rose up in glory and now looks down upon you with beneficence. Sometimes the waves slosh about and blur our vision and take away our calm, but peaceful seas always return and restore our faith and serenity. Lush orchestration and serious strings abound in this tune of restoration.
Tim Osborne’s story is a simple one. It is hard to believe that this pianist and composer of gentle ambient tunes started with a tuba in his hands. By the time he left high school the piano got his interest, but the tuba still remained. He joined the Navy to see the world and went south. All the way to Antarctica. You can’t get more south than that without falling off the planet. Somewhere on a floating slab of ice, on Ross Island, Osborne formed up a band with his tuba. What a treat for the whales and penguins. Tim then settle in Washington state where he began composing music in earnest. We are very glad he did.
Osborne’s music should be labeled THERAPY. His music has a calming nature and playing the music repeatedly just makes it better. The benefits are remarkable. I can see people waking from their self-induced reverie with the answers to tough questions that have eluded them or in the very least with an untroubled heart. And, as promised, no side effects.
Rating: Very Good -
- reviewed by RJ Lannan on 7/13/2005
R.J. Lannan - New Age Reporter (Jul 13, 2005)