Early years, Crimea The band was formed when Mark Owen approached Nathaniel D'Ugo to start a band with him after Nathaniel's former band
Omeratá had broken up. From here they called upon friends Chris Torpy on vocals and the twin brothers Grant and Brendon Warner on guitar from another local band Sound The Mute to join. The idea was to create a huge and heavy sounding project that would act like a collaborative of musicians. The band's member line up has changed many times, at one point consisting of nine members. The band's name doesn't have a specific meaning. The early members wanted a name that creates an enigmatic feeling, evokes emotion and leaves interpretation up to the listener. The group often incorporates themes into their albums such as loss, grief and hope, space exploration, war and stories from history. They released their first record, entitled
Crimea, engineered and mixed by
Magnus Lindberg of
Cult of Luna in February 2009 at Sing Sing studios in Melbourne, Australia. This was released only on CD and independently by the band the following year. This record was inspired by poems written about the
Crimean War and famous heroic figures such as
Florence Nightingale.
The Quietest Place on Earth In 2010 the band went into the studio to record their second album
The Quietest Place on Earth. Complications and member changes delayed the release of this record until 2012 when Grant Warner and Brad Garnam left the band and Matt Harvey (former member of Omeratá) joined on guitars after receiving a last minute call from vocalist Chris Torpy, who asked him to come to a rehearsal. A short time after the band joined with Bird's Robe Records. The record was received well and was followed up with a handful of highly successful local shows including their sold out album launch and supporting American post-metal band Rosetta where the band debuted the new line up and songs. Lochlan Watt from
Triple J and Dave Drayton from
FBi Radio both mentioned the band in the best of 2012 in Drum Media's writers poll. On 2 March 2013, vocalist Chris Torpy died by suicide, after which the band took a short break. Their first show without Chris took place on 21 March 2013 at the Annandale Hotel, opening for
This Will Destroy You. On 26 April 2014, We Lost the Sea held a tribute and benefit show to raise awareness and money for suicide prevention and education surrounding depression and anxiety in association with
Beyondblue Australia.
Departure Songs In 2015, the band recorded and released their third LP
Departure Songs initially through Bird's Robe Records and Art As Catharsis Records in Australia. It was later released in Europe through Dunk!Records and in North America through Translation Loss Records. This record is their first all-instrumental album and was a slight shift away from their old dynamic. Heavily affected by the loss of Chris,
Departure Songs is a concept album inspired by failed, yet epic and honourable individual journeys or events throughout history where people have done extraordinary things for the greater good of those around them, and the progress of the human race itself. Each song has its own story and is a soundtrack to that story with its own piece of art to illustrate the journeys within the songs. The artwork, made by guitarist Matt Harvey, helped wrap the theme of this record together with the music and found acclaim on its own merit with an article in Digital Arts Magazine (UK) and reaching over 42,000 views on Behance.
Departure Songs was widely received and reached critical acclaim all over the world in the highly regarded post-rock scene and even breaking out of the boundaries to reach different audiences everywhere. Their song "A Gallant Gentleman", the main single from the album, featuring a Sydney girls school choir, has been featured on video projects, student films, and promotion for media brands and football clubs. It featured on the soundtrack for
Ricky Gervais' show
After Life released on Netflix in 2019. It also was featured on the soundtrack for
Museum of Innocence, a Turkish drama series released on Netflix in 2026, based on the book with the same name written by
Orhan Pamuk. The penultimate track on the album, "Challenger – Part 1: Flight" has been used for
interpretive dance routines and over documentaries. One album stream on YouTube had more than 4.6 million views in June 2020. In 2023, writer
Andrew McMillen of
The Australian included the album in a list of albums that he considers "flawless" from recent decades. He wrote:
Triumph and Disaster In October 2019, the band released their fourth studio album,
Triumph and Disaster.
A Single Flower On 4 July 2025, the band released their fifth studio album,
A Single Flower. ==Tours==