Karen Ponzio Photos
Love N' Co performing at Best Video as part of Spoken film.
On Saturday night Best Video presented an event that married two of its main enterprises: film and music. Local favorites Love N’ Co were there to premiere their movie Spoken: The Story of Unspoken and share a few tunes beforehand. The film, produced by Free Artist Productions, documents the making of their EP Unspoken, produced by Cliff Robbins-Sennewald, which they plan to release in May. The film documents their hopes, dreams, and desires as well as the struggles they went through both personally and professionally to get it just right, proving that the band accepts a challenge and rides it through with joy and grace.
The evening itself had its own bumps to overcome, as it was revealed that Lovelind Richards, lead vocalist and co-lead songwriter for the band, would not be performing along with guitarist and co-lead songwriter Lamar Smith as planned due to illness. For some a situation such as this might be an insurmountable difficulty. For Love N’ Co, as well as Best Video, it provided another unique opportunity to showcase how to make magic out of mishap.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m missing a key component tonight,” said Smith as he explained Richards’s absence and how he would be performing original music, a cover, and a Love N’ Co song tonight solo. “I think it will still be fun,” he added. “I like my music.”
The invite had encouraged the wearing of onesies or pajamas, and a few people in the audience took advantage of that, including this reporter. Smith himself was wearing a Pokemon onesie — Leafeon to be exact — as he sang and played guitar through a five-song set that also saw him using a pedal board to add bass that he had recorded earlier, as well as additional guitar. The three originals were presented without titles, but he called the first one “the gentrification song,” noting that he wrote it about a skate shop on Broadway that he was “very sad” about when it closed.
“The world still rotates,” he sang. “But where did it all go, all the things I used to know?”
Smith said before his second original that he was nervous because he did not sing a lot, but his voice carried a warm and sweet soulfulness into the enamored and appreciative audience, making a case for him to hopefully share vocals more often in the future.
A cover of Daniel Ceasar’s “Streetcar” and a Love N’ Co song called “Potential” were also shared, with the band’s song played as an instrumental. Smith dug deep and had a dance with his guitar. He was having as much fun as the rest of us.
After the set was over Smith announced that it was time for “the nitty gritty … the real reason we’re here” which was the documentary that he called a “labor of love.”
He also announced that he had a voice message from Richards that he was going to play through his speaker so everyone could hear it. In it, she said she was “so sad” she couldn’t make it, but that was “more incentive” for everyone to come to the band’s next event. She hoped everyone would enjoy the “cool powerful moments we put together” for the film. She also asked for a favor: that Smith record people’s reactions to the film afterward, noting that “all criticism is great for the next one.” The gracious joyful message made it feel as if Richards was there, especially as she ended with the impassioned statement: “You can do anything, but we can do so much more together.”
The film, an insightful and inspirational look at the making of the band’s upcoming EP Unspoken, treats the audience to pieces of the band’s recording session as well as live performances at local venues such as Cafe Nine, Jazzy’s Cabaret, and yes, Best Video. In addition, there are behind-the-scenes looks at the band’s planning and creative process, but the most endearing scenes are those in which Richards and Smith speak about the writing of the songs and the hows and whys of bringing them to life. We learn how the seeds of songs such as “Quarantine,” “Disgrace,” “Koffee,” and “Chocolate” were planted and germinated into their soulful and significant selves.
“Love N’ Co is for people who want to put in the work,” Richards says with a smile when explaining how the song “Disgrace” came to be, noting before that how her personality had been judged at times.
“I am not challenging you, I’m just existing,” she says, offering reassurance to others that if, like her, you were ever thought to be “too much,” you could channel that energy into creativity and a community that encourages, appreciates, and even rewards that. (Full disclosure: this reporter said a silent “amen” to herself after those remarks.)
Setting boundaries and taking time to rest are also discussed as inspirational to the songwriting process, as is the experience of “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.” The film has an immediacy that brings the audience closer to the band and its music, and whets the appetite for the EP to come.
Afterward Smith asked audience members how they felt about the film and encouraged anyone who was willing to join him to film those critiques that Richards had earlier requested. One audience member said he saw the film’s message as “be true to yourself.” As the movie and the music showed, Love N’ Co will continue to exemplify that phrase and encourage others to come along.
For more information on when and where one might see Spoken again, as well as the forthcoming EP, please follow Love N’ Co on Instagram or check out the band’s website.
