Ordinary Mystery debuts 15 new songs and includes musical performances by his wife Leslie Oelsner, their daughter Amy and son Adam. With the addition of 16 poems by Geoff and Leslie's nature photographs in the CD booklet, Ordinary Mystery could be considered a multi-media family project as well as an artistic venture of the highest order.
The CD's title song, "Ordinary Mystery," presents a paradoxical vision of what
is sometimes termed "simultaneity" in WDM—our simultaneous spiritual infinitude and time-limited mortality:
ORDINARY MYSTERY
There's a line of silence on the land.
Silence reclines upon the land.
As day dips into darkness,
It'll widen and expand,
As primal silence settles on the land.
And that's an ordinary mystery,
An intricate simplicity,
A topsy turvy harmony,
A song that never ends.
Ordinary mystery,
Impermanent eternity,
Consigned to Time yet ever free,
My friend.
My love nests next to me at night.
I hear her breath sigh up into the night.
As shadows splash the pillow,
I gaze into her face,
Peering deep beneath appearances
To overflowing Life.
Oh she's an ordinary mystery,
A boundless possibility,
A gentle generosity,
An angel and a friend.
Ordinary mystery,
An everyday sublimity,
The sum of all that's dear to me,
A love that has no end.
The sunrise warms us both awake.
We see the newborn blue and the quiet lake.
As day breaks into brightness
We resume our work and play,
Partners on the way as we partake
Of all this ordinary mystery,
This case of open secrecy,
An obvious obscurity
We'll never comprehend.
An ever-changing constancy,
The I behind all identities,
An ordinary mystery
Is what we are my friend.
Geoff Oelsner is concerned with historical themes, reverence for the natural world, equality and dignity for human beings, and expressions of love for those close to him. He is masterful with words and has a very creative approach to presenting his songs, which was evident on his first CD Morning Branches. Oelsner generally accompanies himself on guitar, but also uses the droning Indian shruti box and harmonium as well as the harmonica, sometimes building layers of meandering tonalities into an aural labyrinth in which the listener may wander in a trance-like state.
And this CD is for serious listeners. With many of the songs over 5 minutes long, Oelsner is less concerned with commercial airplay than with presenting each song as a world unto itself, unfolding like a short story in breadth and description. Such is the opening song, "Cherokee Trail Of Tears," which gives an unvarnished account of Native American relocation.
Our terrified children, our dear ones in fear, were dragged from our cabins in Georgia.
We were torn from our homelands and penned in stockades, taking only the clothes that we wore.
All proceeds from CD sales go to selected Native American and indigenous Canadian non-profit groups.
Oelsner's soulful voice is showcased on "I Been In The Storm So Long," his psychedelic rendition of a traditional spiritual. And his keen wit is evident on "Pawhuska Poppa," replete with an imaginary ethno-musicologist's lengthy introduction to "a seminal example of Northeast Oklahoma swing music."
Co-produced and engineered by Fayetteville musical mage and Geoff's close friend Kelly Mulhollan, Ordinary Mystery also features the multi-instrumentalist on acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric bass, mandolin and octave mandolin, recorder, ukulele, pump organ, and guiro. Leslie and Amy Oelsner contribute harmony vocals, Adam Oelsner plays accordion and electric bass, and Robin Rues and Andrew Sieff add powerful performances on upright bass and percussion respectively. |
