I am pleased to announce that the Lost and Found album is complete. Downloads for the songs, tablatures, and album artwork can all be found at the main album page.

Lost and Found is a musical memoir of sorts. It is easy to lose your sense of direction in life, and these songs are about finding my way through the changes: coping with loss, finding my source of strength, returning to my roots, reconciling with my past.

My music hobby itself was literally lost and then found during the 15 years that I worked on these recordings. Ten years ago I gave up entirely on finishing the album, so I consider its completion to be a major comeback victory! It is also quite a relief to finally be done with it. Here is the production timeline:

• 2005: Work begins, with recording of “Something Wrong.” Album concept and name are formulated.
• 2006: “Rising Sun” and “Standing on High” are recorded.
• 2007: “Standing on High” is rearranged.
• 2008: Graduation from medical school and start of residency.
• 2010: Three-song mini-album posted to Jamendo. Work on the album ceases.
• 2012: Graduation from residency. Purchase a midi controller at a yard sale and start playing with LMMS.
• 2015: Move to Utah, with significant improvement in work-life balance
• 2016: Purchase a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB audio interface.
• 2017: Complete “Lullabye,” “Omega,” and “Alpha.” Start new website at https://alansanderson.band. Complete “Healing Heart” and decide to finish the album after all.
• 2018: Complete “My Abode” and “U-Turn.”
• 2019: Complete “If You Remember (What I Did Wrong),” “Song for Evelyn,” and “Lost and Found.” Remastered and revised older tracks. ALBUM RELEASED!
• 2020: WORLD TOUR! (Just kidding. I won’t do that.)

I have written about all of these songs in previous blog posts, which you will find if you follow the links above.

Credits:

• All songs written by Alan Sanderson, with the exception of “Alpha” based on a song by Jim Ash, “Standing on High” borrows a guitar riff by Joe Wecker, “Healing Heart” based on a song by Andrew Vavrek, and “Omega” adapts a line of lyrics from “Improve the Shining Moments” by Robert Baird (1855-1916).
• All instruments and vocals performed or programmed, and all recording, mixing, and mastering done by Alan Sanderson in U-Turn Studio 2015-2019, except “Rising Sun” and “Something Wrong” recorded 2005-2006 in Bayridge Studio and “Standing on High” recorded 2006-2007 in Weybridge Studio.
• Album photography by Caleb and Marisa Sanderson. Sleeve design by Alan Sanderson.
• Many thanks to my wife and children for their valuable and enthusiastic input and feedback
• Thanks to my many music influences, teachers, and collaborators over the years, the Linux Musicians community, and my listeners.

Changelog:

If you have downloaded earlier versions of these songs, then you will want to grab the new album versions because they have been revised. Here are all of the notable changes made during the album mastering:

1. Lost and Found: (see below)
2. Rising Sun: Remastered with multiband compressor to boost bass.
3. My Abode: Added an introduction, which was actually first written as a coda for “Something Wrong” but which didn’t make the cut when I recorded that song. Also added Guitarix plugin to mandolin to shape and boost sound.
4. Alpha: Added layered guitar parts; improved guitar tone with Guitarix. Thanks to Erik Aagard for the wah-wah pedal!
5. Something Wrong: Remastered with multiband compressor to boost bass, bring forward drums.
6. Standing on High: Completely remixed and remastered with focus on noise control.
7. Lullabye: Changed lead synth to a more forceful portamento sound using Amsynth. (This change was inspired by Wintergatan’s “modulin” recordings, particularly “Dr. Wiley’s Castle“).
8. U-Turn: Changed organ sound to setBFree, a very cool Hammond Organ emulator.
9. If You Remember (What I Did Wrong): Subtle changes to mixing levels.
10. Healing Heart: Altered drum pattern in second verse, improved lead guitar tone with Guitarix.
11. Song for Evelyn: Subtle changes to mixing levels.
12. Omega: Drastic changes to composition; added lyrics, guitar, bass, drums.

Freedom

This album was made using Free Software, and I want my music to be as open and free as possible. Please feel free to download, listen, share, and make derivative works, as long as you give attribution back to me (CC-BY). One exception is “Healing Heart,” which was written by Andrew Vavrek and licenced using the CC-BY-SA license.

I also have provided tablature and other notation, which is like the “source code” for the album. If you “compile” any of these from source, then please send a recording my way because I would love to hear it!

About the Title Track

Waiting to record the song “Lost and Found” until the very last was my strategy to win the creative war. I worried that I might be tempted to call the album finished as soon as that song was done, so leaving it to the end forced me to really settle myself that the rest of the songs were done and that I had included everything I wanted.

This song was many years in the making. It started as a poem I wrote at about age 15, and then one morning in the shower about 20 years ago, while I was serving as a missionary, the music came to me, complete with the lead guitar part. I wrote a second verse at that time, and the third verse a year or so later after I returned home. In 2005 I recorded a quick sketch of the song which worked out the arrangement more or less as it appears in the final recording.

“I went on a journey
I was looking for myself
When I finally found myself, I found
I had only lost myself
When I went to find myself
So I became the person who I am —
That’s who I always was

“I went on a journey
I was trying to lose myself
When I finally lost myself, I found
When we lose ourselves in others
That’s when we find ourselves

“My friend went on a journey
And completely lost himself
So I went looking for my friend
And I found him when I lost myself
I found him, and I found myself!

“When we lose ourselves in others
That’s when we find ourselves”

It is a song about getting lost and finding your way, discovering that you probably weren’t as lost as you thought you were, and helping others to find their way. The chorus is loosely based on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 10:39: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

This recording was made using the same Linux audio tools that I have used for the other songs on the album. I really enjoy this studio setup, and have never been happier about the results.

As always, thanks for listening and enjoy the tunes!