For those not in the know, THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS are an alternative rock duo formed by internationally esteemed professional songwriters Indo-Canadian Raj Ramayya and San Francisco native Brett Boyd.

Described as “Indian-influenced electro-acoustic alternative rock,” THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS draw influence from a wide range of iconic rock artists, but it’s their diverse and innovative musical style and their unforgettable songs with poignant lyrics that define and set the band apart.

The new THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS album, San Francisco is available on November 25th, Black Friday 2022 (via Strawberry Hill Music), and also keep an eye out this holiday season for the re-release of their 2005 classic Christmas album Peace, Love, and Xmas!

1. Breathing
2. No Pain
3. Stars Above
4. I Will Always Be There
5. San Francisco
6. The Best Thing
7. The Day John Lennon Died
8. Blinding Sun
9. Child
10. Indian Cowboy (cool edit demo 2000)

This beautifully crafted and elegantly heartfelt new album opens on the Sgt. Pepper-esque Breathing and the organically earthy No Pain and follows those seamlessly with the easy going Stars Above, the dulcetly melodious I Will Always Be There and then comes a striving musical ache found within the titular San Francisco.

Along next is one of my own favorites, the poppy The Best Thing and the name-dropping, rhythmical The Day John Lennon Died, and they are in turn backed by the low ebb indie rock of both Blinding Sun Child, the album coming to a close on the atmospherically-charged, scratchy, yet strangely smooth of creation, Indian Cowboy (cool edit demo 2000).

Brett and Raj met each other by chance in Tokyo in 1995, crossing paths when they were both young traveling artists exploring different cultures with a shared vision of creating music that has a positive impact on the world.

As unknowns and outsiders to Japan they attracted a multi-ethnic group of Japanese misfits and expatriates from around the globe who didn’t fit into the usual scene, steadily gathering an assortment of unlikely friends and collaborators in the clubs and pubs of Tokyo.

The new THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS album SAN FRANCISCO is a return to form for the group, who relocated to the US following the release of their 2010 album Four Corners of a Tiny Planet. Even though they have their roots and origins in Tokyo and still feel the pull of that city, the new album is called SAN FRANCISCO because this city is now their center.

For them San Francisco is an iconic image representing a sort of promised land, a place of rebirth and renewal, a beacon of hope even as things may seem broken or desperate, all of which comes through thematically on the album.

There has always been a “multi-ethnic” theme in the production of their music, and on SAN FRANCISCO, recorded and mixed at Strawberry Hill Music studios in Northern California ( www.strawberryhillmusic.com), THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS worked with musicians and engineers from Brazil, China, and Korea.

The album’s closing track includes a Japanese sitar-player and was recorded in their apartment in Tokyo back in the day, adding a cool nostalgic bonus to the release and bringing it all full circle.

San Francisco and Tokyo have a strong connection to each other, which THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS showcase in their music and in the upcoming video for their new track “I Will Always Be There.” The video is being animated by Giezelle Bernal, who also did the album art in the same style that highlights the strong connection between the two sister-cities that mean so much to THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS.

Brett and Raj began writing and recording songs again for SAN FRANCISCO around 2019 before the start of the pandemic, and the album is dedicated to two friends that passed as a result of that tragedy. The first is “Thai Tom” who the duo met on a boat with their guitars on the way to a gig on a Thai island and discovered that he and Brett had the exact same birthday and year.

Thai Tom brought them to a local temple to commemorate their fortuitous meeting, and they all became so close that Thai Tom eventually officiated the wedding of Raj and his wife. The album is also dedicated to Raj’s brother-in-law, who sadly passed during the pandemic, and also coincidentally shared the exact same birthday and year with Raj.

Official Website

Official Purchase Links

The Beautiful Losers @ Bandcamp