Local music trio Lost and Found recently
released a new CD, As You Sow. In a unique and wonderful approach to dealing
with music business profits, the group will donate proceeds from CD
sales to the local Habitat for Humanity.
The band formed in 2002 to showcase
songwriter and band leader Dennis Darling’s original works
from his solo recordings, Someday (2000) and This
Little Light (2002). Since then
they’ve continued on, expanding to include material from the
lifelong Springfield resident’s extensive repertoire of cover
songs.
Recorded at Mark Estill’s Apple Road
Studio near Rochester, the new disc is very comforting. The songs
are touching, sincere, and heartfelt, both as they were written and
as they were recorded. The lyrics pass through love blessings,
philosophic ramblings, and spiritual findings, graced by rootsy and
earthy music from the band. Darling plays piano as the lead rhythm
instrument on several songs, giving the album a different feel than
found on the usual singer-songwriter-on-guitar fare. Recording
engineer Estill does double duty by adding tasty electric guitar
licks on several cuts. Bassist Charlie Brittin holds down the
bottom end, while Donna Felton adds handy percussive work and
harmony vocals throughout the recording.
The tunes are all under a folk, blues, light
jazz/rock umbrella and are immediately singable —
familiar melodies with a gentle twist. The message Darling delivers in
the title song, “All I know is as you sow so shall you
reap,” echoes the advice of many popular religions and is just
plain common sense. The lyrics of “Forged in the Fire”
offer this observation of life on earth: “We’re forged in
the fire/melted in the mold/inclined to inquire/then left out in the
cold/dropped out of the choir/tempted bod & soul/we’re forged
in the fire/melted in the mold.”
The group has performed for M.I.C.E. in
schools and during the Old Capitol Farmers’ Market.
They’ve had a spot at First Night Springfield and sometimes
play at the Trout Lily Café on Friday with Darling during
his Original Lunch music contribution.
You might see them in a tavern, your
neighbor’s living room, or at a downtown outdoor function. In
the first lines of the new CD, Darling states, “If you would
give me just a moment I would take all your cares away.” It
could be a very good use of your time.
You’ll find Lost and Found at Recycled
Records (625 E. Adams St., 522-5122) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 25, during the store’s Wednesday Evening Music
Series and at the Underground City Tavern (700 E. Adams St.,
789-1530) on Tuesday, June 7, from 8 to 11 p.m.
This article appears in May 19-25, 2005.
