In 2010, Vancouver indie rock band You Say Party (formerly You Say Party! We Say Die!) toured behind their XXXX album. At a hometown show in April of that year, an unspeakable tragedy transpired when drummer Devon Clifford collapsed on stage after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage. He died days later in hospital at age 30. Aside from a few singles and sporadic appearances, the band has been relatively—and certainly justifiably—inactive since then.

Now the remaining quartet (Krista Loewen, Becky Ninkovic, Derek Adam and Stephen O’Shea) are returning with You Say Party, an extremely engaging, thoughtful album and their first in six years. MySpace was first to chat with keyboardist Krista Loewen about the new album (which comes out today (February 12)!), the challenging last few years and moving forward.

Homebase: Vancouver BC 

What has the last few years been like to get to this point?

The last few years have been a long cycle of ups and downs and not being really sure of where things are going. I mean as you know what happened in 2010 with our band mate. So we've been just processing that loss and looking to the future. It's really nice to release something as a band together again.

Was there a moment where you felt the four of you turned a corner?

We got back together to play that show in Toronto for the record label (Paper Bag Records), the 10th anniversary in 2012. It was a moment that really gelled for all of us. We just really missed playing together and really missed being together. And we wanted to work on something else again.

When we got together to play that show we ended up recording a new song just at home. We went a couple of times a year and we'd go into the studio and record some stuff. A couple of years later we had a whole album and amazingly it was cohesive and it all fits together. It's a record of processing the last few years, moving on with our lives and renegotiating everything between us.

How did the lead single “Ignorance” come about?

That song was fun, that one we wrote that in the living room of my family's house and that was sort of 'let's jam something a little more upbeat.' We had been getting into quite the moody stuff. Becky's (Becky Ninkovic) lyrics are talking about everything you knew in the past could change. ‘When I was younger I thought that I knew…’ We gave the song to our friends to make that video and he (Jeff Scheven) had this idea to get the contortionist.

And the contortionist ends up in a shopping cart?

A friend of mine said her abnormal flexibility represented what it takes to negotiate things in life. You get these huge obstacles and you're forced to move, you're forced to flex, you're forced to adapt. So that was one person’s take on it which I thought was cool. 

Are you surprised by the response to the single?

We're really happy with the response, from our social media lots of people were saying they were just so excited to see we were making music. That felt great, that was really wonderful. 

Do you have a personal favorite off the album?

It definitely changes over time but right now the opening track (“112”) is my favorite. We wrote and recorded it in one day while in the studio. That was a very organic and natural process of how it all came out. I like that sort of natural, organic thing where it just all winds up and feels perfect at the end of the day.

What's it's been like even getting back on the wheel doing press?

It's been years since I've been talking to anyone about our music. We're in a different place now. Our last record we were, that was our full-time job. The last several years we've gone on to have other occupations. So it's a different kind of focus now. 

Do you have any plans as far as touring?

At the moment there are no dates to play at all. We’re not prepared for it, but that’s not necessarily a forever statement.

Did you feel Devon's presence in the studio or around you?

There were definitely moments like that, where we felt or were feeling that definitely. Moments where we were writing or in the studio. I mean we miss him so much. Sometimes when we were writing it felt like he was still there with us.

What would he have thought of this album?

Oh who knows! [laughs] He was a bit unpredictable. I think that somewhere out there he's happy that we're still making music.