Brooklyn-based We Are Augustines, formed by ex-Pela members Billy McCarthy and Eric Sanderson, and featuring Rob Allen on drums – will release their debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships digitally exclusively on iTunes in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Japan on June 7, and physically in Australia and New Zealand on August 26 through UNFD.
Rise Ye Sunken Ships is as biographical record as you will ever hear. Listening to it is like taking a snapshot of the inner workings of front man Billy McCarthy's head space at a particular place and point in time. Rise Ye Sunken Ships is as earnest and emotional as it is violent and cathartic. You don't even need to read the back story on the band to understand what is going on behind these songs, to realise that We Are Augustines have created a very special record in a similar manner to what their Brooklyn based peers, The National did last year. Rise Ye Sunken Ships is destined to be one of 2011's word of mouth break throughs.
Already picking up the word of mouth heat in their home town New York We Are Augustines are advocates of the heart on sleeve approach to song writing. It's hard not to considering front man songwriter Billy McCarthy's eventful recent history. Dubbed by Alt Sounds as "the modern day Springsteen", much of the material on Rise Ye Sunken Ships documents the most traumatic period of McCarthy’s life. His mentally ill, drug-addicted mother took her own life when he was just 19. Then, in 2009, his younger brother James, also a diagnosed schizophrenic, hung himself while at a psychiatric hospital.
The record kicks off with lead single Chapel Song - accompanied by the single shot video, directed by Emmy Award winner Matthew Mills - tells a heart-rending tale of lost love delivered in McCarthy's unique strained vocals singing "Tear up the photograph / Cos it's a bright blue sky". Then with lyrics like “Keep your head up, kid / I know you can swim / But you’ve got to move your legs” he pleads in Augustine. While Headlong Into The Abyss recounts brother James’ flight from the police. The latter is fueled by the exhilaration that comes from giving the finger to the status quo and driving hard and fast away from one’s fate. Book of James, one of several songs recorded with producer Dave Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Los Campesinos), is a gripping eulogy for this once-resilient spirit who succumbed to the pressures bearing down on him from both within and without.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
In reference to Book Of James McCarthy observes “Society at large would rather not think about the topics of homelessness and mental illness. But people who have lived through it are forced to find a place internally to store it in. This song is written from that place". For a limited time, fans can get a free download of LP track Book of James from www.WeAreAugustines.com.
The Instrumental, a transcendent, richly textured piece written by bassist/keyboardist Sanderson, closes out Rise Ye Sunken Ships with a hard-won hope, suggesting that struggle can ultimately point the way to peace. “It was birthed out of the chaos of living in New York City – balancing the draining moments spent working day jobs in industrial areas like Columbia Street, Sunset Park and Long Island City with the pure, romantic dreams of being a musician”, recalls bassist Eric Sanderson.
It’s a dream he and McCarthy lived for nearly a decade as members of Pela. But despite the indie band’s remarkable successes – their acclaimed debut 'Anytown Graffiti' landing on numerous critics’ 'Best of 2007' lists, sharing stages with Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney and The Flaming Lips and others, an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, songs licensed by such shows at Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs – Pela eventually imploded.
“We’ve had to realign the way we approach our music,” explains Sanderson. “But we couldn’t be where we are now if Pela didn’t exist”. McCarthy concurs: “The lessons we’ve learned are like lanterns illuminating a path for us”.
Rise Ye Sunken Ships will be released digitally exclusively on iTunes in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Japan on June 7.
