Tim Reisert writes songs with meditation, nature, and memory close to the surface. His songs bring the listener into a shared world. He began writing songs while living in New York City, then spent a few years involved in the DIY music scene in Phoenix, Arizona. He currently lives and teaches in Cincinnati, Ohio.
His album Viewfinder is a love letter to the natural world–with no expectation of a reply. It is his view of the natural world through the lens of fatherhood, love, and photography. Here’s what he has to say about the song “Oleander True”:
“The story of the song is one about Rachel’s night photo projects there around our house which was right close to the Salt River, which wound up featuring many of our favorite plants, our ocotillo from our yard, and red yarn that tangled in a beautiful palo verde in our front yard, and of course oleander that when we moved from NYC was our favorite—turned out it was everywhere! The song is a personal one, and mostly centers on how much of what I come to know and name arrives from someplace else, and musically it’s been one that has shifted my writing because it’s in an open G tuning (Keith Richards style, sure) all dropped a half step, so open F#.”