Released in 2015, the Sydney band’s third album was their first instrumental record following the death of vocalist Chris Torpy. They dedicated it to his memory, writing five pieces about other people’s lives while working through a loss of their own. In the album notes, they described the music as a tribute and a form of catharsis.
The band self-funded the album, recording it at Sydney’s Studios 301 with producer Tim Carr.
On Saturday, 7 November, We Lost The Sea will bring Departure Songs home to City Recital Hall, performing the album in full with musicians from The Metropolitan Orchestra and Vox, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.
The band says it will be their only Australian show of 2026 and the final complete performance of the album this decade. The evening will also be filmed and recorded for a live release.
“Departure Songs has soundtracked a decade that even now seems scarcely believable to us,” the band said in their announcement.
The Stories Behind Departure Songs
The track titles name some of the people behind the music. The band wrote about explorers, divers and others whose decisions put their lives at risk, building each composition around a particular story.
Opening track “A Gallant Gentleman” tells the story of Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, who walked away from his struggling expedition team into the freezing conditions, hoping his departure would improve their chances of survival. The song takes its name from John Charles Dollman’s painting of Oates. The band recorded its choir parts with students from Mercy College in Chatswood.
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“The Last Dive Of David Shaw” follows the diver’s attempt to recover the body of Deon Dreyer from a submerged cave in South Africa. Shaw had discovered Dreyer’s remains a decade after he disappeared and returned to bring him home to his family. Shaw died during the recovery attempt.
The album closes with the two-part “Challenger”, inspired by the 1986 space shuttle disaster. The first part runs for almost 24 minutes, followed by a second part just under nine minutes long. Together, they occupy more than half an hour of the album, a substantial stretch to hear performed with an orchestra and choir.
The record has found its way into other stories, too. In 2019, “A Gallant Gentleman” featured in Ricky Gervais’ After Life, a series concerned with grief and the difficult business of carrying on. Tone Deaf covered the placement at the time, after Gervais had already publicly recommended the band’s music.
An Orchestra And Choir At City Recital Hall
The orchestral performance builds on sounds already present in the recording. Alongside the choir on “A Gallant Gentleman”, the album credits cello on “The Last Dive Of David Shaw” and “Challenger”, as well as trumpet on the latter.
Chad McCullough arranged the parts for the band’s full-album performance with a chamber orchestra at Belgium’s Dunk!Festival. He will return for the City Recital Hall show to conduct and play trumpet, bringing that collaboration to the city where the album was made.
For listeners who know Departure Songs well, the appeal is hearing how those familiar passages change with an orchestra and choir. The complete performance also gives newcomers the album as a whole, from “A Gallant Gentleman” through to “Challenger”.
Former guitarist Brendon Warner, who helped write Departure Songs, will open the evening as Voix Nulle. His ambient and electronic project uses synthesisers, samplers and drum machines, with debut release Latticework due on 31 October.
Bird’s Robe and City Recital Hall present Ten Years of Departure Songs on Saturday, 7 November 2026, from 7:30pm. The concert runs for approximately two and a half hours, including support and an interval. Standard tickets are $75–$95, plus an $8.50 booking fee per transaction.
