“We had people crying on our shoulders every night. We had no idea it would be so impactful that it literally saved people’s lives”: We Lost the Sea channeled grief into a landmark post-rock album – then they had to face the pressure of how to follow it
The Australian instrumentalists created beauty from tragedy with Departure Songs. Hard-fought third album A Single Flower is a breathtaking product of the journey they’ve been on so far, delivered via aluminum guitars and boatloads of pedals
Many artists struggle with the experience of success being a double-edged sword. We Lost the Sea have to deal with the challenge of their success being tied up with the death of singer Chris Torphy.
Following his suicide in 2013, they elected to continue as an instrumental band. They channeled their grief into a cathartic, conceptual set of songs about failure and sacrifice that became 2015 breakthrough album Departure Songs.
They found near-instant acclaim and generated a passionate cult following. But they became conflicted about feeling typecast by the album, which was, after all, a profound but traumatic document of a specific time in their lives. They’d moved on, personally and creatively, but worried about the reception their new material would get.
That tension drove the intense, confrontational energy of 2019’s Triumph & Disaster, as they searched for a new equilibrium. And in the 10th anniversary year of Departure Songs, perhaps they've found it. A Single Flower is a dark but oddly defiant record, cinematic and confident too. Guitarist Matt Harvey explains.
What were your main inspirations behind into the new album?
“I don’t think our musical influences have changed for 20 years. For this one a lot of writers and artists formed the overall theme: ‘With so much tragedy in the world, what does it take for you to get out of bed in the morning?’ That's a very rudimentary way of looking at it.
“The single flower is a reference to a passage from a Cormac McCarthy novel. The main character has this life-affirming moment where he asks, to be able to see a single flower, what is the cost? What do we have to pay as a human race to witness the beauty the Earth has? It’s so big and it’s so deep – bigger and deeper than we are.
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“So we grabbed this theme and wrestled it down into our record. It had influenced a little of the icing sugar on top; but once we started retrofitting and rewriting bits, things made sense.”
Do you always write conceptually?
“I think we set ourselves an involuntary precedent with Departure Songs, and from then on we were screwed – we felt that we had to reach those same heights every time. It was our first, unintentional, concept album, and then I think we latched on to that for the following records.
“On Triumph & Disaster I think we tried a bit too hard by setting the theme before we started writing. That really limited some people’s ability to be comfortable coming up with whatever then working back from that. We really stretched ourselves, and it taught us some lessons for the new record.”
What did you learn?
“When we released Departure Songs we had no idea what we were doing, let alone that it would be so impactful that it literally saved people’s lives. That’s the words people have used multiple times; in emails, at shows, whatever. It was a huge thing.
“In 2017 when we toured Europe, we had people crying on our shoulders every night. It was like therapy for everybody. It was really intense and special. We came back from that and went, ‘Fucking hell, we’ve got something here!’ That rolled on to the pressure that we felt.
“When we put up teaser posts for Triumph, saying, ‘We’re in the studio,’ people were like, ‘I hope it sounds like Departure Songs,’ and, ‘Please release Departure Songs II.’ Their perspective is a bit different to ours.
“I have to remind myself that I’m happy to have fans that give a shit. I’m glad we’ve helped them with their lives in some way. That’s more than what most artists could ask for. With that in mind, we had none of that coming into this new record. We didn’t give a shit – the only pressure was to be good.”
I got into MIDI about five years ago; it blew my mind, and then took about five years to learn how to use it
What gear did you use on the new album?
“Mark Owen and I are pedal fanatics. I don’t obsess about literally anything else in my life, but I’ve sunk so much money into this ‘hobby’ that I don’t know how to justify it. This is my palette! I’m an artist! I need this to paint!
“I got into MIDI about five years ago; it blew my mind, and then took about five years to learn how to fucking use it. There’s nothing specific on this record – though if you want to get real granular we used the Hologram Electronics Microcosm for a bit of extra ambience.”
Did you change up the guitars?
“I’ve used my EGC 500 aluminum beast with P90s for 10 years. We used some custom-made Shub guitars, made by John Shub in Melbourne. He does great work. Unfortunately his warehouse burned down, but I think he's found the money to rebuild somewhere else.
“The other guys have all settled on the guitars that we’ve got. My cousin owns Monty's guitars in London so he sends me stuff. Years ago he built me a Telecaster with Warmoth parts and his own pickups and stuff, and to this day it's one of my favourite and best guitars. That stays in E standard, so I don’t get to use it when we’re doing drop-tuned stuff.”
What keeps you coming back to music?
“I remember living in London around 2007, playing in a little noisy punk rock kind of band. One night it was snowing, and London snow sucks – it’s not magical fucking Swedish snow; it's sludge as soon as it hits the pavement.
“I’m trudging along, fucking freezing, and my shit’s getting all wet. I try to get on a bus but it won't open its door, and I have to wait for the next one. I get to the rehearsal studio and get all my shit set up and I play.
“It’s late at night, I’ve got work the next morning; and as soon as I’m playing music, all that goes away. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I must really love this, otherwise I wouldn't fucking do this!’ I wasn't even in a band that was going anywhere – it was just because I wanted to play music.”
- A Single Flower is out now. We Lost The Sea tour the US between July 15 and July 26.
Alex Lynham is a gear obsessive who's been collecting and building modern and vintage equipment since he got his first Saturday job. Besides reviewing countless pedals for Total Guitar, he's written guides on how to build your first pedal, how to build a tube amp from a kit, and briefly went viral when he released a glitch delay pedal, the Atom Smasher.
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