Lost Decade’s Debut Explores Discovery to the Sounds of Synths

Lost Decade. Photo credit: Gbohunmi @gbohunm.i.

It's hard to define just what kind of music Lost Decade makes. Rather than sticking to one or two genres, band members Derek Leugner, Chenelle Roberts, and Brandon Smith pull from past decades and their own musical backgrounds to create a sound that can’t be easily categorized.

After years of experimenting as a trio and playing gigs around their home city of Calgary, Lost Decade is releasing their debut album What it Was on November 21. The new music promises to be just as indefinable and distinct. 

Vocalist Roberts emphasized the band’s retro vibes and “synth heavy” production, noting that they often borrow from synth pop and synthwave sounds of the 80s and 90s. To this, Roberts adds her vocals, which she said are more in line with soul, R&B, and pop.

A lost decade is used to describe years-long periods of economic stagnation, often foreshadowing greater economic collapse. The late 90s and early 2000s in Japan are commonly referred to as a lost decade.

When faced with the difficult decision of settling on a name and actually keeping it for more than one gig, Japan’s lost decade came to mind, Leugner explained. To Leugner, since the COVID-19 pandemic, “it’s almost like [we’re in] another lost decade.”

Roberts added that the name reflects the kind of music Lost Decade makes.

“We’re kind of all over the place, and so we’re lost, and we pull from a bunch of decades worth of music,” Leugner said.

Leugner and Smith are responsible for the synths. The pair have known each other for years, having met in British Columbia (B.C.) while studying music at Selkirk College as teenagers.

At Calgary’s National Music Centre — then known as the Cantos Music Museum — Leugner and Smith began working with analog synthesizers. At the time, Leugner and Smith would demo synths for the museum and were in various bands. As Leugner explained, after they started using the analog synths, he and Smith wanted to do more with it. 

“Instead of doing covers and doing cover band music, let’s make our own thing.”

Through her brother, they met Roberts. In 2019, Leugner, Smith, and Roberts did their first show. In the years since then they’ve played numerous gigs and released some singles, but as Leugner said, Lost Decade is “kind of a slow burn.” According to Roberts, she felt it was finally time for a full release.

Lost Decade. Photo credit: Gbohunmi @gbohunm.i.

“I feel like people are like ‘we know who you are. We see you in the city.’ But we don’t have anything tangible,” she said.

Not long after the group formed the COVID-19 pandemic began. Afterwards, it took Lost Decade some time to regroup, Roberts said. During this time Roberts was working as a social worker. While she tried to write, Roberts was drained.

“So it took us a little bit but I think that I just felt like, now’s the time. [It’s] now or never. If we’re gonna keep doing this we need to show people who we are and what we can do.”

For the debut album, Lost Decade isn’t just drawing on the sounds of the 80s and 90s. In what she grew up listening to, Roberts recognized some recurring themes that Lost Decade ended up drawing on. Love, for one, and secondly, resilience. Ultimately, the result is an album about discovery, she said.

“[If] something new, something that you want to explore …  doesn't work out, okay, you got yourself. You can do it and keep going,” Roberts said. “I think that’s a theme that we should all keep, especially in [these] political, economic times.”

This album will also feature a number of collaborations with other Calgary artists. Spoken word artist aloT of Poetry, rappers KtheChosen and Tea Fannie, and multidisciplinary artist Gbohunmi will all feature.

Several years ago, Lost Decade was a part of the Werklund Centre’s TD Incubator program, through which they connected with numerous other artists. Adetola Adedipe, professionally known as aloT of Poetry, was one such artist. At one of their shows, Lost Decade ended up bringing Adedipe up onto stage. From that, Roberts knew she wanted to feature her on the album. 

Collaboration, especially on stage, is routine for Lost Decade. Their shows are always done with or for someone else, Leugner reflected. As well, Leugner and Smith come from a jazz background. Leugner explained that in jazz, the goal of every jam session isn’t necessarily to sound good, but rather just to make music.

“You just go and jam and you let people come up. Doesn’t matter if it's good or bad. It’s all good, right? You’re just making something of the time. That’s the point of live music. If you want to watch the band sound exactly like their album, I don’t see the point in that.”

For Roberts, collaboration is a way of giving Calgary’s music community the props it deserves. This habit goes back to her time singing classical music in school. For recitals Roberts’ music teacher would include the usuals like Mozart, but would always ensure a Canadian artist was included.

“She always made sure that we represented where we’re from. [She would say] ‘if you’re not going to represent us, who is?’ So I’ve always made it a point to represent our community.”

With the album release approaching, Roberts acknowledged having some feelings of anxiety. Putting yourself out there — in this case, releasing an album — is a vulnerable act, Roberts remarked.

“I want to make sure that we … put out something that people respond to. I don’t necessarily just put out music for myself. I think I put it out for others.”

Lost Decade’s debut album What It Was will be released on November 21.