Lost & found

They started out in 2009 as two kids from Mumbai trying to make good music. But in the six years that have passed since, EDM duo Lost Stories can now proudly boast of millions of fans and supporters — among whom are eight of the top 10 DJs in the world. Having played with such names as Armin van Buuren, Steve Aoki and Tiesto, Rishab and Prayag — who make up Lost Stories — are now names that dominate the playlists of EDM lovers all over India and abroad.

Confessing that the reason behind their phenomenal success still remains a mystery to them, Rishab recounted for us the journey so far, and the one that lies ahead. Befitting of music stars for the Internet generation, Rishab and Prayag too first met on online forums. “This was in early 2008 and Prayag was already somewhat established. So when I saw his call for collaborations on an international online platform I was quite surprised, because I hadn’t normally seen many Indians in those circuits. These were still early days for EDM. I contacted him over the forum and he invited me to share some of my music with him. At that time I was only a kid, but he liked my music and soon we got to making our own as well,” says Rishab.

Starting out with making music for random games and remixes, Lost Stories today have played at almost all of the acclaimed venues in India and many abroad as well. Telling us about the journey into EDM stardom, Rishab says, “Back when we started we were just two kids, one from Matunga and the other from Chembur. But I think what did the trick was that we refused to stick to a single genre at a time when many musicians were calling themselves purists of genres within EDM such as Techno and Trance. We explored elements that were not often tried in our songs. So when we released False Promises, it immediately struck a note with many and the biggest boost was when we got support from DJ Tiesto’s Blackhole Recordings, which snapped up the song immediately.”

Calling Lost Stories a fusion within the umbrella of EDM, Rishab says, “We tried to make each song different and that is what has made them so popular. For example, when we did a remix of an Afrojack track, we tried to add Indian sensibilities into it, but kept away from stereotypical Indian elements. And we also used guitar sounds in electronic tracks, which isn’t heard of.”

Lost Stories’ first album Music for the #Generation, released in 2013, too went on to become a big hit. Rishab says, “The album was a stroke of luck. I met Universal’s Devraj Sanyal among the audience at Sunburn Festival. We told him about our ideas and when we met him back in Mumbai, we signed a three-album deal with Universal.”

With several performances and collaborations lined up, the duo are now also planning to start work on their next album. “We will start working on it from the coming week. We are just back from Europe and the impact of Indian music in their EDM circles really impressed us. So this time we are planning to incorporate Indian sounds and sensibilities into our music. We have plans to feature Indian vocals from artists such as Kavita Seth and Armaan Malik. And with this album again we are trying to make our music strike a chord with lovers of all kinds of electronic music. Be it techno or be it underground, we are planning to explore all of these sensibilities so that everyone will have something to take from it,” he concludes.