The Seldon Plan, Lost and Found and Lost

Lost and Found and Lost is a twelve-track indie album, released last year to relieve those diehard fans of Baltimore, MD’s The Seldon Plan, who’d been patiently awaiting a follow up to 2007’s Collective Now. Michael Nestor and Dawn Dineen from the core band sing, but they also have an entire chorus of nine additional people, complementing each other with lush harmonies, frequently on top of one another throughout the verses and choruses. Nestor, Dineen, Dave Hirner, and Matthew Leffler Schulman make up The Seldon Plan on this particular album, but there’ve been variations of band members in the past and currently.

Their music soothes and sways, with its subtle movement emanating from the speakers. The songs last an average of three minutes long and stay constant throughout. While the music is somewhat muddled-sounding, with no distinct parts standing out and everything blended together, the sound still works.

The fifth track, “Run, Go,” starts with a woman speaking in Japanese before leading into a story about a boring party where you feel left out. The words repeat, “it’s a long way to go” over and over, pushing the person to keep trying but assuring them they have the power within to change the situation. Track six, “Philadelphia and a Moment,” is acoustic, lending a more relaxing, tender feeling to the album with its peaceful catchy tune.

Nestor sings, “Do you love me / like you want to / All the moments in this world are gone forever / but summer nights like these girl keep our hearts together,” showing a sense of hope and harmony in his idea of romance. The last song, “Ezra, Jack, Keats,” pays homage to three famous writers from different countries and time periods: Ezra Pound, Jack Kerouac, and John Keats, which the band uses to explain growing up, describing poetic imagery, and an attempt to understand love. It also features a cello and trumpets backed by repeated “la”s.

The Seldon Plan sounds a lot like The Anniversary to me, just less emo, and their songs aren’t very distinguishable. Each one fades into the next because they sound so similar. According to their Website, a good portion of the album was written in the studio, not beforehand, so they were able to work on it and shape it as a band rather than individually, which could account for the meshing quality. Nestor and Dineen wrote the lyrics, which concentrate heavily on personal growth, finding love, and our ever-changing economy rut.

The band’s already working on a new record, to be released this year, with a video for the track “Millenials” on their Website; check it out if you’re interested.