Personal and Reverent Summer Porch Music: a Ship at Sea

A Ship at Sea is great for those summer evenings spent on the porch. It’s laid back and folksy, going down smooth with whatever beverage you happen to be drinking at the moment, whether lemonade or bourbon. At its heart, though,  A Ship at Sea’s music, written and performed by solo artist Josh Compton, is deeply personal and remarkably reverent.

The offering, The Fisherman & Other Stories, is a collection of b-sides available exclusively to Christ and Pop Culture members, a striking example of A Ship at Sea at its best and most raw. Some of the songs are covers of hymns, others are personal pleas, and some are original hymns. All of them feel simultaneously reverent and authentic, not an easy balancing act for Christian artists.

But A Ship at Sea pulls it off primarily through an understated and humble approach, and a constant acknowledgement (whether sonically or lyrically), of his own smallness. These are songs sung to God, without pulling any punches, and without any pretense.

If you like what you hear, you absolutely must check out A Ship at Sea’s other two releases, Awake, Awake and Cassette Sessions. Also, look forward to future projects from Josh Compton later this year, both as Ship at Sea and outside of it. For more information, check out his Bandcamp page and like him on Facebook.