Busybee's Playlist

“By day, [Armenians] are procrastinating in their studies and by night they’re worrying about conflicts in the motherland“

Beware of upbeat melodies carrying heavy words.

“Fool’s Gold” by Lost Tourists dropped a few months ago, in February, and if you haven’t been jamming to it since then – what have you been doing?

Don’t be fooled by the lightness of beat, and the dancelike nature of the song, as the inspiration for it is not as bright.

“The song depicts the duality of what the Armenian diaspora is going through their day-to-day struggles,” says Kevork Boyadjian. “By day, they are procrastinating in their studies and by night they’re worrying about conflicts in the motherland. For us, it’s regarding Armenia and Artsakh.”

What Boyadjian is referring to is the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh that was one of the more dire repercussions of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that started in the 1990s. It began as an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, with seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the 1990s. The 2023 offensive was a bloody one, as it led to a significant rise in deaths, and the fleeing of its Armenian inhabitants.

Time time tickin’ away
As I watch night turn into day
One last stab in the dark
One final trebuchet
Ring ring goes my alarm
Wakes me up from slumber’s charm
Here comes morningsun
And I got nothin’ done

Compared to the Rock infused EP Asking for Directions, “Fool’s Gold” has more of a pop synthetic sound to it, similar to “Peter Pan Syndrome,” a single released in 2023.

“During COVID, Saro and I started experimenting with synthesizers and they slowly became a part of our songwriting,” Boyadjian says. “For example, for “Peter Pan Syndrome,” Saro came up with the main beat of the song while playing around with his Arturia sequencer. That became the foundation of the song. Basically, the main thing that has changed in our songwriting is that we now start with the drum programming.”

The interesting thing about “Fool’s Gold” is that it captures the immigrant perception and perspective perfectly.

The feeling of helplessness, incapable of either moving on with your life while your native country undergoes war or conflicts, but also incapable of going back to said country to help or resist, as you will be putting yourself in impending danger.

Look look what do I find
I’m pretty much caught in a bind
Got dreams that’ll never see
The bloody light of day
Far, far, up and away
‘Crastinate, set n’ go play
Got no motivation
To make my mind obey

Although the lyrics ring a bit sad and are heavy on the heart, the uplifting tempo was fun to create for the artists, and are an interesting mix to add on an otherwise bittersweet song.

“Saro’s favourite part of writing “Fool’s Gold” was programming the drums and sitting down with me to write the lyrics,” says Boyadjian. “In my case, it was coming up with the main melody as in the Fender Rhodes piano part.”

The Lost Tourists are a Montreal-based “dynamic duo” as they dub themselves, comprised of Kevork Boyadjian and Saro Hartounian. They have been playing music together since 2016.