artist: Tim Story country of origin: USA style(s): Ambient piano, chamber music essential releases: Beguiled (1991, Hearts Of Space) The Perfect Flaw (1994, Hearts Of Space) Abridged: Selected Miniatures 1979-86 (1996, Hearts Of Space) Shadowplay (2000, Hearts Of Space) Caravan soundtrack (2005, Nepenthe Music)

Of all contemporary ambient musicians combining piano with synthesisers, American composer Tim Story is one of the most fascinating. Comparisons have been made with Californian pianist Harold Budd, not surprising given that both composers have been influenced by late-19th Century French composer Eric Satie (1866-1925). Satie was consciously anti-dramatic and shunned the pompousness of Romantic symphonic music in favour of complex, spacious, melodic music for solo piano and small ensembles. Hearts Of Space Records founder Stephen Hill eloquently describes this school of composers as “exploring the emotional poetics of ambiguity and irony with fresh unusual harmonies and subtle disarming melodies...what appears simple on first hearing mysteriously expands, unfolds and ultimately beguiles with time and repetition”.

Story's music is somewhat more structured than Budd's. Budd is an impressionist; Story seems more concerned with feelings than pictures, though he displays a comparable talent for writing piano melodies of skin-crawling beauty and shaping them further with subtle, tasteful electronic textures. His middle-period albums Beguiled, The Perfect Flaw and Shadowplay find Story at the apogee of his craft. These works seamlessly blend some chamber-like instrumentation (cello and woodwind) with the more typical piano-synth combinations established on earlier albums. Although an increase in the use of electronics has resulted in a denser sound and some less pronounced piano lines than his previous work - beautifully summed up on the compilation Abridged - the rich harmonies and ambiguous, haunting qualities are stronger than ever. Beguiled in particular is an utterly compelling piece of work and a good starting place for newcomers.

While the 2005 film soundtrack Caravan takes a number of sonic detours, including less piano and more in the way of orchestral landscapes, the album is not a major departure from previous works. With 22 tracks contained on a single disc most of the pieces are short and - in typical Story style - not necessarily sweet. A fine album, if not the best introduction to his work.

“Despite it’s simplicity, this music is not often easy”, writes Story on the sleeve notes to one of his albums. “Nor is its emotional impact, though powerful, usually cheerful or happy. At its best such music resonates with a simple truth, and it is as sublime and complex, as inextricable from life, as delight or sorrow”. If that sounds appealing then buy a Tim Story album, sit with it patiently and let time reveal its shadowy pleasures.

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