I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky...

November 16, 2015 10:49 AM

Vancouver band North Atlantic Explorers with their dreamy beautiful odes to a life lived on the sea.

Frontman Glenn D'Cruze penned the album My Father Was a Sailor to commemorate his late father, a British Merchant Navy seaman. D'Cruze himself and friends traveled on an Icelandic cargo ship to film eerily beautiful videos for the album.

They released an instrumental ambient companion album, All Ships At Sea, in late October. Each track is named after a ship D'Cruze's father sailed on. It even includes a rendition of "Sailing By," made popular by the Shipping Forecast.

posted by Kitteh (10 comments total)

Ooooh this made me day, thank you, Kitteh!

I'm sure someone who actually closely follows musical trends could be conversant about this (is it the result of The Decemberists*?) , but musical groups singing about the ocean and ships seem to be having a real moment right now or have come back after a hiatus, maybe? Or maybe it's just the internet and being easier to find. Anyway, for someone who grew up endlessly replaying songs like Gordon Lightfoot's Ghosts of Cape Horn on my parent's record player. it's been a real joy to find whole albums like this one; artists who dip into it frequently like Laura Veirs does; or other entire albums like The Sea, The Gambler. If it's "trendy" I don't care, it's still a joy.

(Also thank you for the addition to my Canadian music playlists, so much of which seems informed by nature even if it doesn't involve the sea, like Great Lake Swimmers or Basia Bulat.)

*I recall some music review back in the day when The Decemberists had signed to a much bigger label or something, and the critic said something really disdainful like, "The label is betting that there's a much bigger audience out there for long droning sea shanties," and I was all, there's always an audience for long droning sea shanties for there are those of us who carry the sea in our hearts, our hearts I say!
posted by barchan at 11:24 AM on November 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

You're welcome! My husband and I do a radio show here in Kingston and I think we were doing a nautical theme or something, so I did a random Google search and found them that way. I heard one track, then another, then another...and well, I fell head over heels for their sound. It's delicate, melancholy, yet filled with quiet joy. I have had both albums on serious rotation for nearly a month. (Their first album, Skylines, is really good too but sounds distinctly different than these two.)

I am filled with sadness that they are not a touring band.

*(also I got to interview Glenn for my radio show a week later and he was super amazingly nice)
posted by Kitteh at 11:34 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

IMHO it's practically a requirement that all excellent nautically themed music has to have melancholy built in somehow.

*also for fuck's sake ,"my day" in previous comment. I may be a pirate of ancient seas but not of current ones.
posted by barchan at 11:41 AM on November 16, 2015

Since it looks like Great Big Sea is on an indefinite hiatus, then this may fill that niche in my head.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:16 PM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh ooh! Added all three albums to my play list! I love discovering new music!
posted by arcticseal at 6:44 PM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just bought the two most recent albums! Truly, truly gorgeous. Thanks so much for this awesome post!
posted by Krazor at 6:40 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yay! I am so pleased you all like them. My Father Was a Sailor might be my favorite album in recent memory. I remarked to the singer via Twitter that it was probably one of the most beautiful albums I'd ever heard and he was touched and flattered. I stand by that.
posted by Kitteh at 7:48 AM on November 17, 2015

Good heavens, this stuff is wonderful! Thank you, Kitteh!!

(And I am very surprised to say that, when I went to YouTube to give them a listen, many of the tracks -- uploaded by CDBaby, of all people -- had zero views.)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:07 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, there is not a lot of views for their stuff, which is a shame. I remember also being surprised by that. They've gotten airplay on the BBC and CBC so I just assumed there was a lot of love for them out there in the wide world.
posted by Kitteh at 8:20 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

A little late to this, but if you like wistful, melancholy nautically-themed albums (and if you don't, have a word with yourself) then I highly recommend 'Navigating by the Stars', a solo album by Justin Sullivan (better known as the front man for New Model Army).

Here are 'Twilight Home' and 'Blue Ship' from that album.
posted by reynir at 11:06 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]