Ships Have Sailed is the brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Will Carpenter. The band materialized after a hesitant decision to individually focus on new music. The process was initially daunting but the risk proved to be invigorating and refreshing. The music became uplifting and buoyant. The lyrics revealed a thoughtful and conscientious perspective, and the sound evolved into sincere indie rock with an unabashed pop structure. After sharing it with fellow musicians, Carpenter recruited a lineup that now permanently includes drummer Art Andranikyan.

Carpenter describes the band's moniker not as a pessimistic reference to the renowned idiom "that ship has sailed," but instead a fresh, positive perspective on the unexpected outcomes of unforeseen circumstances. It's an adage that can be applied to his own life of growing up in poverty in rural New England and being kicked out of his home as a teenager. And it’s from these challenging experiences that Carpenter often reflects on to draw introspective inspiration.

With Carpenter acting as main producer from Tiny Island Studios (his creative home-base), Ships Have Sailed has recorded and released a diverse collection of albums, EPs, and singles that consistently evoke an unrestrained cathartic desire to be heard and understood. Either through crescendoing ballads or indie rock alacrity, their music always captures a uniform sense of sanguine sensibility. By combining an ardent work ethic with an impressive range, the band has maintained a well-earned buzz that has led to international tours, impressive industry showcases, placements in TV & Film, and awards honoring their independence. They’ve had several songs spend weeks in the top five on listener-voted KROQ Locals Only (“Escape,” “Stay,” and “Take My Money" all reached number one).

Their album Ages (released on March 24, 2022), most of which was co-produced by Dan Sadin (MØ, Joy Oladokun), is a testament to the band’s progressive journey. They openly admitted that their creative outlook focused on optimism as a therapeutic reflex due to recent trying times – both global and personal. The album’s lyrical message questions the pathway of life and time and how our perception of both will always change. And the result has translated to something more profound than anything they’ve ever done before. Ages continuously and flawlessly pivots between epic anthems (“Escape”), acoustic serenades (“Skin”), and funky dance-pop (“Faithless”). Songs such as “Can’t Go Back” and “Breathe” conjure moody, atmospheric sonics. The title track “Ages” leans into open, emotive honesty while “More” is a hard-hitting blues banger. As a successive experience, it is thoroughly immersive and a guaranteed gamut of emotions.

“Lyrically and sonically, Ages represents a life arc,” says Carpenter. “It addresses an exploration of our humanity, our egos, and our instincts. It’s about how we change over time and are shaped by particular journeys and experiences because while I was shaping this album, my life was also shaping me.” To celebrate the release of Ages, Ships Have Sailed recorded and broadcast a virtual album release show at Dan Sadin’s studio (RADD Sounds) in Ojai, CA – which resulted in a live album “Live from Ojai” being born and later released

The events of the past several years have also brought a significant amount of grief. During the creation process of Ages, Carpenter’s mother-in-law succumbed to cancer and he subsequently lost one of his earliest musical mentors to an unfortunate and unexpected accident. These traumatic events combined with the stress of the pandemic and the loss of his grandmother opened Carpenter to a new perspective on life and its consequential choices. His creative pursuits, as always, have been greatly influenced by everything happening around him, so it’s no surprise that these poignant personal losses resulted in a powerful new song called, "Silence" which was featured on the Season 19 finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in May of 2023.

The preceding year saw many highs for Ships Have Sailed but one in particular hit home for Carpenter. A song came to him almost out of nowhere. It was whimsical and sweet but also deep and thought provoking. About a week after that, he and his wife found out they were expecting their first child, a baby girl – and from there the song, “Edge Of An Ocean”) began to make a lot more sense. 

Carpenter recalls, “This song began as a premonition: a love letter to my unborn daughter. As I write this, she is just three weeks old. It's a big, beautiful, scary world, and I want her to experience the best of it without having to know the worst - but I also know that is impossible. In order to appreciate happiness, we must know sadness. In order to love deeply, we will always have to experience profound loss. In order to cherish the time we have here, and the moments we have with our loved ones, we must recognize it is all temporary. Somehow all those hopes, wishes and dreams, anchored by our bittersweet reality, wove themselves into this song, which presents as a bit unassuming, but may reveal a surprising amount of depth.” The song was later featured in multiple television series such as Heartland, Ruby and the Well, and Hudson & Rex, with a highly anticipated upcoming placement in Season 1 of Every Year After.

Over the last few years, the band has released a steady stream of singles, adding to an already expansive catalog. Among those, was the rock-heavy anthem, “Get Loud”. A song that not only captured the attention of fans and followers across the globe, but to their joyous surprise, also won the grand prize in the USA Songwriting Competition and, most recently, has been featured by the LA Kings (NHL) as part of their in-game experience leading into their 2024 playoffs run. 

The band joined forces with long-time collaborator and indie-folk artist Abby Posner to bring the track to life. On the surface, the track itself is a foot-stomping, slightly twangy, rootsy rock anthem that screams for attention and speaks to overcoming adversity and standing up for everything the band believes in. Beneath the obvious, however, there's always a deeper story which began when the U.S. Supreme Court made the controversial and unprecedented decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, triggering a realization within Carpenter’s inner monologue, "ok, so it's about to get loud” and thus a song was born.

Following the release of “Get Loud”, the band came back with a slightly upbeat, quirky single called, “Find My Way”. A unique song that was crafted from someone else’s story entirely, but one that instantly formed a connection. The track was shortly followed up by another heavy hitter called, “Walking Into Walls”, one that many could assume was about heartbreak, however, after diving below the surface, a deeper meaning seems to be revealed. And just as summer was about to hit, Ships Have Sailed released “Reflections”. Simply put, it was a song born from exactly that: a reflection on who we are as humans, what our purpose might be, how we find our resilience, and our uncanny ability to ‘reflect’ off each other when we find a true connection.

The duo later returned with ‘Invisible Ink’. A song that leans into the worst parts of love: betrayal, indifference, imbalance, loss and heartbreak. What started out as a single song, soon blossomed into a three-part EP showcasing the original track, a stripped down version and a dreamy remix. Shortly after the “Invisible Ink” EP was released, Ships Have Sailed was once again featured in the hit series Grey’s Anatomy (Season 21) with two of their most recent singles, “Breakdown” and “Reflections”. Rounding out their recent successes, longtime fan favorite “Alive” was featured in the opening sequence and credits of the indie film Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall starring Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega.

After a brief pause, the duo returns with their latest single, “Exit Wound”. Carpenter shares the inspiration behind the track, “In many ways we find ourselves in a new space, almost a collision of truth and deception. I wanted to explore this concept in a way that felt easy to approach, yet truthful. The question is: if we're so accepting of the convenient things that pass for truth, will we ever have a truthful perspective of ourselves, our world? Where will our children learn the ability to parse truth, lies, harmless vs. nefarious intentions, reality vs. non-reality? If we become so accustomed to "flexibility" where fact is concerned, do we wind up truly living inside a fantasy and, if so, as convenient as it may seem, how could that possibly be a good thing?” Ships Have Sailed invites listeners to step into this new sonic journey where vintage and futuristic textures collide in an immersive soundscape. “Exit Wound” was released on April 24th, 2026.
 

Discography:

Exit Wound - Single
Simple Words w/ Lava Hong - Single
Breakdown - Double A-Side
Invisible Ink - Mini EP
Reflections - Double A-Side
Walking Into Walls - Single
Broken Hearts (NU_HAVEN Remix) - Single
Find My Way - Single 
Every Little Bird - Double A-Side 
Disappear (Lucien Francis Remix) - Single 
Disappear - Single 
Get Loud - Single 
Edge Of An Ocean - Single 
Silence - Single 
Live from Ojai - LP 
Creep - Double A-Side 
Ages - LP 
Broken Hearts (Stripped) - Single 
Broken Hearts - Single 
Low - Single 
Rise - Single 
Stay (Stripped) - Single 
Let’s Just Dance - Single 
Mixed Up - EP 
Up - Single 
Whispers - Acoustic EP 
Re: MIX - EP 
Moodswings - LP 
Someday - EP 
Midnight - Single 

Ships Have Sailed: 

Will Carpenter - Vocals, Guitar, Production, Composition 
Art Andranikyan - Drums