LISTEN NOW: Ships Have Sailed – “Someday EP” Review

Ships Have Sailed
Someday EP
Los Angeles, CA
(Self-released)

Alterna-pop group’s debut EP is the perfect soundtrack for living life, overcoming struggles

Will Carpenter—the lead guitarist and background vocalist for the hip-hop-meets-rock outfit 7Lions—has a new alterna-pop side project, Ships Have Sailed, that is allowing him to broaden his musical horizons. Like many debut EPs, Someday doesn’t stick to one specific formula, and instead explores a variety of sounds and themes. “Midnight” is an epic trance-pop track with skyscraping choruses, but then Carpenter gamely turns it down a notch on the acoustic “Clouds.” On “Just to Get Through,” he deftly augments the song’s message of pushing on through life’s struggles by matching it with a military-style drum rhythm as a metaphor for someone who soldiers on despite all odds.

Carpenter uses his passionate, Johnny Rzeznik-like vocals to great effect throughout, and his knack for melodious vocals is actually heightened by the EP’s lone minor misstep—the straight-ahead rocker “Better Off”—where his ill-advised attempt at a grittier vocal makes you appreciate his other performances all the more. Thematically, Carpenter encourages listeners to live life to the fullest, particularly on the pop/rock title track, with its theme of living for today even when your mistakes ring like a clarion bell. Ships Have Sailed’s Someday is a well-crafted debut.

Produced by Morgan Taylor Reid and Will Carpenter // Mixed by Morgan Taylor Reid, Billy Schleifer, and Scotty Lund // Mastered by Brian “Big Bass” Gardner

Follow on Twitter at @ShipsHaveSailed