We Lost The Sea band member Matt Harvey is truly chuffed that the Carlton Football Club thought highly enough of one of its cinematic instrumentals to weave it into its “Bound By Blue” Membership campaign.

In truth, the music, which features on the Sydney-based outfit’s recently-released album “Departure Songs”, has nothing to do with the leather conveyance.

“A little back story of the album is that it kind of came about through a tragedy, the loss of one of our members Chris Torpy,” Harvey said. “The album was a way of getting through, because all of us play music together and that’s our emotional release.”

The Departure Songs album carries five tracks, each based on an historically significant tale. “A Gallant Gentleman”, the track cherry-picked by the football club for example, was inspired by the story of the explorer Captain Lawrence Oates, who lost his life on Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1912.


We Lost The Sea band members pictured from left to right are Matt Kelly, Nathaniel D’Ugo, Brendan Warner, Kieran Elliot, Mark Owen and Matt Harvey. (Photo: Supplied)

“The story that we ended up associating with this song was of Oates’ return journey form the south pole with a group of men led by Robert Scott, who were actually beaten to the pole by the Norwegian explorers . . . so they were returning defeated,” Harvey said.

“After an accident that resulted in losing one of their teammates, they were in their tents one night when Oates, suffering from incurable injuries sustained from frostbite, stood up and said ‘I’m going outside and may be some time’ . . . and never returned.

“Oates felt his actions would save his team - alas they didn’t and none of them made it back to base. However, he will be remembered as a very gallant gentleman.”

Harvey said that A Gallant Gentlemen was symptomatic of the entire album “which has this emotional context through the songs, with each song leading into this big theme of departure and release”.

Formed in 2007, We Lost The Sea took its name, according to Harvey, “from a couple of the guys being inspired by the mystery of the sea from old tales and war stories and wanting a name with ‘Sea’ in it, and also something enigmatic”.

“But in the meantime people have translated it in different ways,” Harvey said.

“The band always has big themes associated with the songs to help give them meaning. The first album was inspired by poems written during and about the first Crimean war, so We Lost The Sea could be associated with war at sea. Also the last song on the second album was inspired by the story of Moby Dick.

“I think the sea is always going to be a constant theme running through the band’s work in one way or another,” said Harvey, who has pledged to temporarily switch allegiance from Sydney to the Bluebaggers when the band next plays a Melbourne gig.

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