Not All Who Are Lost, Wander

Description

Not All Who Are Lost, Wander… is a digital-only album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Richard Cummins, self-released in April 2014. All arrangements, engineering, mixing, and mastering performed by Richard Cummins.

In the tradition of Owsley, Owl City, RJD2 (Mad Men theme), Lenny Kravitz, Sufjan Stevens and Paul McCartney Richard is a ‘one man band’ – music creations emanating from his home studio in a tiny rural town.

Raw, organic & loose, the songs become an entity on their own – plenty of rythm, well-placed handclaps, moments of symphonic splendour, enlightened melodies and, of course, layered instrumentation – with pianos, guitars, unconventional drumming and melodic bass lines being thrown on the canvas like a mad painter, recording all the instruments himself (except where noted). And just like Jim Morrison’s hair, each song has to be just the right amount of ‘messy’.

THIS is a Rock Opera ‘Seria’, realized by Richard Cummins – Impresario. OPERA SERIA (SEH-ree-ah): A “serious” opera. The usual characters are gods, goddesses or ancient heroes. The first line of JRR Tolkien’s famous poem from ‘Lord of the Rings’, “All That is Gold Does Not Glitter” is a variant and rearrangement of the proverb “All that glitters is not gold”, known primarily from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, resulting in a proposition bearing a completely different meaning.

In the tradition of this intellect, Richard crafts for himself an inversion of the famous second line, “Not all those who wander are lost” (which in itself is an inversion bearing the meaning that those suspiciously viewed as wanderers or vagabonds are actually moving about with purpose) into “Not All Who Are Lost, Wander”.

The striking ‘Saul Bass’ inspired album cover art drives home the point: We tend to view forms of stability as ‘safe’, or ‘right’. But does this mean that the lost are always prone to wander? Or, perhaps the contrary is true? Those whom appear the most stable, stationary, safest, the most ‘right’… could in fact be just as, or even more, ‘lost’.

The Characters: The Seeker, The Girl on the Sidewalk, 2 Vultures, The Pastor, The Beast, and ‘Someone There’.

“Not All Who Are Lost, Wander” is the story of journeys… a sudden and jarring realization of the lifeless monotony of the day to day, a haunting echo of a long ago feeling, a frustrating encounter at the door of the local church – begging the question of how gathered groups who seem so pious can be so dilettantish – the 2 beaches, and a promise.

Then, seemingly in a flash… The bus at Liminal St. is set to leave the grim, grey, joyless city, journeying toward the mountains and the sunrise. That heavy sunrise…

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/not-all-who-are-lost-wander/1632904575)

Album tracklist:

01. A Simple Observation – 3:38
02. You Would See Enough (If You Could See What I See) – 3:37
03. Soul Driving – 5:28
04. Brand New Day – 3:25
05. Vultures (The Most Painful Parts) – 4:38
06. Someday, Tomorrow, Eventually – 4:46
07. Saviour Soul – 3:06
08. Looking for an Answer (Fish on Your Shirt) – 2:58
09. Angels by My Side (Extended Version) – 4:08
10. Another Morning – 3:42
11. Just Amazed (Radio Edit) – 3:44
12. Twinkling of an Eye – 4:08
13. Welcome to the Kingdom (Instrumental Version) – 3:11
14. The Encounter (Prince of Peace) – 2:30

Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://richardcummins.bandcamp.com/album/not-all-who-are-lost-wander