Ferry Tales Return with Aplomb Alongside New EP ‘Long Time, No Sea’

Back in 2016, Mumbai pop-rock band Ferry Tales made quite the impression on the country’s independent music scene with their melodic songwriting, dynamism and good vibes. That same year the band released their three-track debut EP There She Goes as well as an early version of their single “Home” featuring vocalist Maanuni Desai, keyboardist Nirmit Shah and violinist Ajay Jayanthi. “Home” now finds itself second on the tracklist for the group’s new six-track sophomore EP titled Long Time, No Sea.

In between records, Ferry Tales – comprising vocalist-guitarist Akshay Dakhane, drummer Nilay Singh and guitarist Nischal Chaubey – parted ways with bassist Siddhant Vetekar and drafted in Raghukul Mathur to handle the low end while also adding keyboardist Nishant Nair to bolster their sound.

While the band wanted to retain their pop sensibilities and playful yet laidback sonic approach, Chaubey says, “We wanted Long Time, No Sea to be more of the same with a little more to show.” A little “more to show” is an understatement as the whole EP is filled with dexterous moments, some flavorful guitar parts, stellar songwriting as well as blissful and mellifluous vocal melodies.

Long Time, No Sea features straight-up pop tracks (“Lies” and “Sneak”), relaxed arrangements (“Home” and “Medicine”) and heavier elements (“Strong” and “Infinite Love”). “We went all out simply because we couldn’t choose one specific soundscape for this EP,” says Chaubey. He adds, “It had to be a true reflection of our varied influences, and hopefully we can make the song listing bring a coherent experience to our listeners.”

According to the band, lyrically, the EP is based around certain situations and observations that they’ve seen and learned from. “Like the everyday battle with the procrastinator from within,” says the guitarist referring to “Lies.” 

Ferry Tales recorded a majority of the EP with Jayanthi and guitarist and sound engineer Chaitanya Pandit at their Mumbai-based JaknPanda Productions while Nair tracked his parts at his home studio and Singh laid his drums over at alt-rockers Spud in the Box’s drummer Joshua Singh’s JoshuaMusic Studio under the watchful eye of producer/engineer Ayan De. Jayanthi mixed and mastered the EP too.

While they don’t have any gigs lined up, Ferry Tales is relying on pretty much anything and everything digital – from getting placed on playlists to upping their social media presence and even hopping on board Discord servers. One of the highlights to come out of the entire process of putting this record together was the band’s super successful crowdfunding campaign in which they raised ₹2.5 lakhs. The band is also putting together a range of merch including the EP’s artwork (designed by illustrator Vibhav Singh) on a t-shirt for their crowdfunding backers. “We have a few plans in store for some music videos and playthroughs,” says Chaubey.

Stream ‘Long Time, No Sea’ on Spotify below and on other platforms.