Lee Harvey Osmond – Beautiful Scars

Released in Canada in 2015, the ten song project, produced by Cowboy Junkies Michael Timmins and due out in the US on March 25th, was made during the period where Osmond learned (at age 55) that his cousin was really his mother and his heritage was Mohawk, not Irish. This new knowledge and the varied emotions that undoubtedly accompanied it contributed to an album that’s fearlessly versatile, compelling and truthful.

​Flush with horns, the approximately seven-minute opener “Loser Without Your Love” is a bluesy, trippy – and sexy – ode to the one who makes him whole. “Blue Moon Drive” continues that vibe while the utterly funky “Shake The Hand” is spellbinding, “Oh The Gods” saturates with an eeriness and “Hey, Hey, Hey” is seductive and captivating. Osmond’s weathered baritone gets vocal assist from his son Thompson on the subtle, yet seemingly fragile, “Dreams Come and Go” while “Planet Love” takes you on a spacey-folk trip. The album concludes in my favorite way – with one of those feel it in your heart songs – “Bottom of Our Love,” an acoustic ballad with a loneliness and longing that’s palpable, proving that while our scars contribute to who we are, their beauty should be embraced rather than be kept hidden from view.