Musician launches CD with focus on food bank

Musician Devin Hentsch has released a new album under the name Devin and the Dark Light in a manner that will help fill some gaps at a time when many community initiatives and live performance opportunities are on hold.
Hentsch, new to Creemore, is a teacher at Centre Dufferin District High School. Each year the school’s student council organizes a community wide food drive for The Shepherd Cupboard Food bank in Shelburne. That and other initiatives are not happening because of the pandemic.
Hentsch said he is concerned about youth who have benefitted from the initiative because he knows some are struggling.
“We can’t really track kids as well as we used to because a lot of them are on remote learning and we can’t really connect with them the way we normally do in the classroom,” he said.
Having the album in the can, Hentsch said he decided to release it, basically giving it away for free, while trying to raise some money and awareness about what youth and their families may be experiencing.
“Interacting with teens daily I can see where and when the food bank helps them and their families. And it really does make a difference. Especially now, as we move into a phase where people are losing their jobs, struggling to keep families together and kids fed,” he said.
The new album Brideland is the sixth album for Devin and the Dark Light. Hentsch also makes music with Fountain Bell and Dark City.
Hentsch says Brideland is an attempt to express the spiritual domestic. The warm comforts during epic conflicts. The depths of those tiny days while living with the one you love.
“The songs are extremely personal to me and talk of deep bonding, from those love fights to quiet moments, to acceptance and the depths of spiritual domesticity,” says Hentsch.
The music is online at devinandthedarklight.bandcamp.com, where the CDs are for sale for $10 and additional online donations can be made. Associated videos and artwork, made in collaboration with video and sound producers, musicians and local artists from Shelburne and Orangeville, can be seen on Facebook at Devin and the Dark Light. New material will be released each week until Dec. 21.
CDs will also be available at The Creemore Echo.