Deep Sea Diver – Billboard Heart (Sub Pop) (13th Floor Album Review)
Deep Sea Diver is the creative project of Seattle-based husband and wife team Jessica Dobson and Peter Mansen (drums) since 2005. Dobson has played guitar with alt and indie royalty, from Beck to Shins to Conor Oberst to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Billboard Heart is the band’s first on Sub Pop, but their fourth since 2012.
The first single Billboard Heart released last year, gained them their first-ever chart success and leads on the album. It’s a dream-pop, emo-angst tune, which cleverly showcases Dobson’s rich and luxurious vocals. Shovel, released in January is a much darker, neo-shoegaze ear catcher, with catchy keyboards, angular guitar and post-punk rhythms that hark more towards Deep Sea Diver’s indie roots.
As you gain listening depth, and revisit, there is a dawning, Billboard Heart has many faces, many facets; Let Me Go (featuring Madison Cunningham) is a tortuous intertwining of melody, neo-gothic angst and romance. While listening to Let Me Go was akin to hearing PJ Harvey’s Down By The Water, so many moons ago.
And as the album heads south, See In The Dark, adds a noisiness, a brashness that energises the listening pleasure While the penultimate offering, Happiness Is Not A Given, abruptly takes you back into calm, as a neo-country, trepidatious love psalm. The band Deep Sea Diver had a darkness foreshadowing the creation of Billboard Heart, they’ve managed to transform that energy, turning it into lustre.
Simon Coffey
Deep Sea Diver’s New Album Billboard Heart Will Be Available February 28th, 2025 Worldwide From Sub Pop
Billboard Heart will be available on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com (US), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), Deep Sea Diver’s Official Website, Bandcamp,
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