Ships Have Sailed celebrate vulnerability in their unassuming new single “Skin,” an acoustically-driven, harmony-rich embrace of authenticity and honesty.
Stream: “Skin” – Ships Have Sailed
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I truly believe that our feelings and emotions represent the unique beauty of this life we’re given, and ‘Skin’ is an ode to allowing ourselves to feel them, even when it hurts.
Vulnerability is a virtue: Our ability to feel the full spectrum of emotion is, in part, what makes us human. It’s how we live in harmony with our surrounding world; it’s what allows us to empathize and sympathize with others; and it’s what gives us the self-awareness that sets our species apart from the rest. Ships Have Sailed celebrate vulnerability in their unassuming new single “Skin,” an acoustically-driven and harmony-rich embrace of authenticity and honesty.
This skin: the only armor
I had but it let you in.
Now each scar has a secret to sing,
like all those yesterdays, wide eyed,
thrown away, crawling,
and I keep falling down.
This sin: like a mantle
enfolds all my suffering.
Feel the claws of the demons dig in,
and no amount of numb
makes their voices dumb,
they’re calling and, I can’t stop them now.
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Skin,” Ships Have Sailed’s third single of 2019 (independently out October 11, 2019). The California-based duo of Will Carpenter (guitar/vocals) and Art Andranikyan (drums), Ships Have Sailed emerged in the mid-2000s as a force of conscientious indie rock: Music with purpose, or something to that effect. In premiering the band’s euphoric single “Let’s Just Dance” in January 2018, Atwood Magazine praised the band’s ability to “capture the uncertainty of the future with regrets from the past, boiling everything down into a song of celebration. “Ships Have Sailed implore us to live – to love every second of our world, to grab life by the horns and make every single day count!”
“Skin” implores us to assume another kind of living: One in which we are open with ourselves and our emotions. “Each scar has a secret to sing, like all those yesterdays, wide eyed, thrown away, crawling, and I keep falling down,” Carpenter sings quaintly atop his plucked acoustic guitar – a combination that inevitably reminds us of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark.”
It may be thin, but I love it,
feel the pain, rise above it.
We don’t have to wound each other,
you’re my sister I’m your brother.
Open heart, open eyes
let them in…this skin so thin.
“Has anyone ever told you that you need to grow a thicker skin?” Carpenter explains. “I can’t even count how many times people have told me that. But they’re essentially telling you to numb your feelings, and I think that our feelings and emotions are the essence of our humanity. The music I create wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t lean into my emotions when I’m writing, and so ‘Skin’ is my way of expressing that I’m content with feeling as much as I do…even if it hurts sometimes.”
These days, where’s the honor
in all of the wars we wage?
Why do we long
for the peace of our graves?
Just raise our minds above
all the ash and dust and
we might find…our way back to love.
Carpenter also presses how this song is much bigger than him – and that it’s about the many ways in which we can and should be more vulnerable, open, and true to ourselves: “Our world is beautiful, but it can be cruel. As humans, we have an instinct to pursue happiness, and when we’re feeling happy we want to feel everything, but when our feelings are less pleasant we have a tendency to want to numb them. I truly believe that our feelings and emotions represent the unique beauty of this life we’re given, and ‘Skin’ is an ode to allowing ourselves to feel them, even when it hurts.”
Whereas Ships Have Sailed often exhibit a natural proclivity toward grander exploits, “Skin” is an intentionally stripped-back folkier affair that turns our attention toward the vibrant resonance of acoustic strings, and their interplay against Carpenter’s dressed-down voice. The band display their versatility and talent here as they project form the heart, and as such “Skin” sticks its ultimate landing.
Stream the new song exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
It may be thin, but I love it,
feel the pain, rise above it.
We don’t have to lose each other,
you’re my sister I’m your brother.
Open heart, open eyes
let them in…this skin so thin.
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:: stream/purchase Ships Have Sailed here ::
Stream: “Skin” – Ships Have Sailed
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© 2019
© 2019
