Rise Ye Sunken Ships

We Are Augustines | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 23, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: WEA
• ASIN: B005BDZL2I
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,164 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

There is no mistaking the signs of staggering depth in Rise Ye Sunken Ships. A remarkably accomplished album, it is deeply beautiful and emotionally cathartic.

Much of the material documents the most traumatic period of lead vocalist/guitarist McCarthy's life in which he lost both his schizophrenic mother and his brother, James, to suicide. "Keep your head up, kid/I know you can swim/But you've got to move your legs," McCarthy pleads in "Augustine" while "Headlong Into The Abyss" recounts James' flight from the police while "Book of James," one of several songs recorded with producer Dave Newfeld (Broken Social Scene), is a gripping eulogy for this once-resilient spirit who succumbed to the pressures bearing down on him from both within and without.

For McCarthy and Sanderson, it is the culmination of an extraordinary labour of love; a journey that has seen both suffer a collision of professional hardship and personal tragedy and yet come through strong the other side. For the rest of us, it is the music we've been missing, but always hoped was there.

With navigation essential to survival, We Are Augustines are steering a course by way of a chart speckled with the fragments of shattered dreams and guiding lights long extinguished. Not the easiest of paths to traverse, but then plain sailing was never their command. With Rise Ye Sunken Ships, however, a titanic struggle and musical vision is at last about to come to the surface.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A heart full of wild things September 27, 2011

By Markus Rauchenwald

Format:Audio CD

I feel about this record the same way I did about The Gaslight Anthem's "The '59 Sound" - that is, madly in love with its drive and slightly embarrassed by its lyricism. Yet considering singer William McCarthy's family history, full of suicides and madness, this act of transforming pain into ecstatic defiance is rather a heroic one. It ends in autumnal laments, but not before taking a stolen car and driving it through Mexico to the bottom of the ocean so that all your sins may be forgiven. You know, that thing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Debut December 23, 2011

By spartucusjones

Format:MP3 Music

This is truly a stunning debut. The album was a result of a difficult period which resulted in a break up of the previous band (Pela), battles and a break up with their record company, and family tragedy. Just about every song on the album was motivated by singer/guitarist Billy McCarthy mother and brother who where diagnosed with schizophrenia (Book of James, the album emotional centerpiece was a response to his brother's James subsequent suicide). The album comes from a very real place. It is honest and it is hard not to make an emotional connection to this album.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Rise," indeed! January 30, 2013

By David F

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been staring at my keyboard for 20 minutes, trying to think of words that would match what I think about this album. I do not have those words. These guys do - telling stories torn from their hearts and dressed in music filled with feeling, passion and urgency. I have listened to this album dozens of times and still it inspires me, lifts me and humbles me. The guitars soar and dance and the drums are fantastically crisp and exciting, propelling the songs through their course. I have listened to all genres of music closely since the mid-60's when I was beginning to open my eyes and ears to the world... This album frankly takes my breath away. Listen to it. Give it a good home. It will carry you on its shoulders.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad I missed the release in 2011... June 13, 2013

By Az

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Had I known about this group when it first released this album I could have had that much more time to enjoy it. As it is now, I may end up wearing the disk out before I get tired of it.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best albums of 2012 May 14, 2013

By S. Kendall

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

After listening to this album, I'm surprised more people have not heard of We are Augustines. It's great from start to finish.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Phenomenal Debut!!! January 24, 2013

By Christopher D. Scheno

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

From the opening basslines of "Chapel Song," this CD compels you to put away all other things and...listen. Something's up, you can hear it in singer/guitarist Billy McCarthy's pent-up, worried vocals. And, it turns out, there's much that's not right, he's "...got a pocket full of handshakes" but they ain't worth much, and, right off, he's staring at his girl as she walks into a chapel (has he lost her?) and he's "shaking like a leaf" and lieing through his teeth. You wonder what's up and the answer is supplied in the next song, "Augustine" in which our protagonist (yes, this is not-so-very-loosely what we used to call a "concept album") is trying--desperately--to save his brother from either prolonged incarceration or lifelong tenancy in an asylum. That task ain't easy at all, and he pleads with his distracted or otherwise incapacitated brother, "I know we can swim, but you gotta move your legs." The next two songs are stunning and relate the not-so-heartening result of the brothers' escape. "Headling Into the Abyss" features a swirling wall-of-sound comination of guitars and (church?) organ that provide the perfect background for McCarthy's distressed lament. He and his brother are seemingly on the run, getting by, catch-as-catch can: "We stole it for the feeling of stealing." Survival of the meekest, the lost, the almost beaten. But, drive on they do, and nothing will stop them, "Call the police, call your shrink, call whoever you want, but I won't stop the car." By song's end, if you aren't wondering what's next for these two lost souls or you haven't just hit the repeat button or you're not studying the lyrics, well, you're the soul that's lost. Believe me: this CD is THAT compelling/intriguing/provocative. Oh, and then along comes what could be the song of...any year, "Book Of James...."

Chills down the back of one's spine? Goose bumps on the forearms?

How's about one left to wonder if Billy McCarthy is okay these days?

"I guess your either headin' somewhere or endin up somewhere..
cause I tried the bible, tried the bottle,
tried the needle, tried to love people.
And in the end there aint much to say
And in the end there aint much to say anyway
And i stand here in my shoes, unable to move
my hat in my hands, at the bottom of the ocean."

I could go on and on and on (like all the other's whose reviews accurately give notice that this is a most brilliant, heart-wrenching, and must-have CD) but I won't: I don't want to spoil the ending.

Mr. McCarthy poured his heart and soul into this music, and while "don't they all" may well be one's dismissive reply, well, most do put their heart and soul into their music but not many have the intelligence and circumspection and narrative voice that's displayed througout "Rise..." or, more importantly, such a compelling tale to tell.

This CD had the same effect on me as "On the Waterfront" did when I first watched it: I was rendered speechless. I recall that--of all people--Robin Williams said that if a person didn't cry at the end of "...Waterfront" then they were robots or somesuch form of impregnable non-human form. "Rise..." is THAT kind of brilliant. Read more ›

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!! January 12, 2013

By Justin Everett

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

I think everyone can relate to this album. Has been on repeat since I purchased it. Words are filled with true grit and pure raw emotion! These guys deserve a handshake, pat on the back, and recognition for there work!!!

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent album, excellent album November 26, 2012

By Megan L. Sowders

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This band may not ever get the radio play they deserve but the "Chapel Song" is an excellent song! You can tell this band has put their entire hearts and souls into this album.