SINGAPORE, Aug 19 — The first thing you will notice when you listen to the eponymous debut album from Singapore band Lost Weekend is singer-guitarist Rachel Tan’s distinctive vocals.
Her singing style, a mix of mezzo and contralto, will recall singers as diverse as The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, Garbage’s Shirley Manson, The Breeders’ Kim Deal or even Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell.
Beyond that creamy vocal quality Tan brings to the tunes, the matured songwriting revealed through the album suggests that Lost Weekend — Tan, bassist Mark Cheng, lead guitarist Ariff Atmadja and drummer Zheng Jie — possess more artistic gravitas than one should expect from a contemporary indie pop band. And such a young one at that.
There is, for instance, the rationale behind selecting the name. Said Cheng: “There are several iterations to this story. The first being, as corporate slaves, our weekends are too fleeting and often lost. The second is that we adopted it from a particularly hazy period in John Lennon’s life, which he affectionately dubbed his ‘lost weekend’. Third, we just thought it sounded cool, really.”
The band were rejected at a (2013) Baybeats audition (they were rattled because one member arrived very late at the audition), but they have since earned their spurs, and see their learning experience as something “warm and fuzzy”.
“We were disappointed for sure,” Atmadja recalled of that audition. “But as all things go, we picked up from where we left off and kept on keeping on — wouldn’t change anything for the world.”
Tan concurred. “There was a renewed fervour to prove the (Baybeats judging) panel wrong. Practice became more stringent and organised; the focus shifted towards achieving technical excellence on top of honing our songwriting craft.”
By all accounts, the hard work paid off: The band’s new album offers stellar material such as Mornings, Red Is The Colour, Wild Ones and On A Sunday, tracks that leave memorable traces of melodic bliss counterpointed by thought-provoking lyrical concepts.
“Our songs are a catalogue of urban regret — time passing too quickly, memories losing meaning, fumbling for the right words, relationships breaking down,” Atmadja elaborated.
“We don’t pretend to know more than we do, so, if anything, our songs are very much based on personal experience and our view of the world. Our first single Mornings, for example, is very simply about having a massive hangover, while Red Is The Colour is about absorbing more than you should in a destructive relationship.”
Tan is proud of the fact that the songwriting process is by and large a collective one. “Someone shows up with the bare bones of a song — usually lyrics, chords and a basic campfire arrangement. The full band build it up and imbue it with their personal sound and vibe. The end result is something that belongs to everyone.”
It is clear that the over-riding musical philosophy of Lost Weekend is focused on smart songwriting. “(There’s) not a wasted or self-indulgent note, but a dedication to building up a damn good song,” said Cheng.
Ultimately, the satisfaction lies in creating something the band genuinely love. “There’s no shame in saying we can play back our own album and still sing along to it,” quipped Atmadja.
This quiet confidence has prompted the band to send the album to overseas publications in order to gain a footing abroad.
“The best thing about being in the digital age is the fact that there aren’t any geographical boundaries,” Atmadja explained. “We’re also trying to explore collaborations with other artists/musicians/innovators to see how we can push the album to new audiences.”
According to Tan, these plans include performances overseas, which she said were on their immediate agenda. “(It) would be a dream come true. There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain,” she said. “We look forward to not just playing to new audiences, but also learning from what other scenes have to offer.”
When asked about the future, Cheng likened releasing a debut album to hitting puberty for a band.
“We’re still going through our awkward growing phase, but we want to continue honing our craft and putting out quality material. There’s still a lot more for us as a band to learn,” he said. — TODAY
* Lost Weekend’s eponymous album is available athttps://lostweekendsg.bandcamp.com/releases.
