Album Review
Billboard Heart
By Deep Sea Diver
by Joe Vickrey
Deep Sea Diver returns to the spotlight with their brilliant new release, Billboard Heart — an album where each track feels carefully crafted and affectionally assembled while maintaining raw energy and genuine emotion.
Deep Sea Diver’s 2020 masterpiece Impossible Weight topped nearly every independent music chart and made them one of the most important bands to watch for. Following a world tour that included opening for Pearl Jam in stadiums across the US, we finally have their highly anticipated follow up album, Billboard Heart. The pressure of expanding on such a powerhouse of album would’ve caused many bands to crumble, but Jessica Dobson and company have refined their impenetrable wall of sound to the point of perfection.
DSD came out of the gates firing on all cylinders with their two opening singles, “Billboard Heart” and “Shovel.” The title track is a vulnerable love song that drifts into a dreamscape of guitar riffs and arpeggiated synthesizers just like romantic daydreams often do. “Shovel” on the other hand is a more cold-hearted rocker featuring a distorted double-tracked bass guitar and dirty drum machines. It particularly caught my interest for seamlessly jumping between what could’ve been two different versions of the same song. I’ve gone a bit mad trying to pinpoint exactly when the doubled-bass drops out and where the acoustic drums come in.
Placed in between the two songs, “What Do I Know” proved to be another enigmatic standout track for me. Whether because of the eerie line, “This spider in the milkshake I’ve been drinking,” or the thunderous roto-tom fills that follow it, it won my heart and stole my attention on each subsequent listen. What a vibe.
Every crack of the song is filled in perfectly with a new texture, yet it never feels like a crowded mix.
Following it with “Emergency” was absolutely devious too. Somewhere in Deep Sea Diver’s DNA there has to be a generous portion of Talking Heads. They have such infectious grooves to back these larger than life songs, and in a strange way, their music sounds like an evolution of what David Byrne started in the '80s.
No stranger to collaborations, DSD feature another of indie’s biggest names, Madison Cunningham, for “Let Me Go.” The hairy distortion of downtuned guitars mixed with a vintage drum machine screams Hail to the Thief-era Radiohead, but the real star is how well Jessica and Madison’s voices mesh.
Their belted chorus harmonies ring over an otherwise barren mix and gave me goosebumps. The song is both catchy and haunting in the most inviting way possible.
During my initial listen, I wondered how “Always Waving Goodbye” wasn’t the album’s closer. Almost existing as a thesis for Deep Sea Diver, the track features strong vocals, thoughtful lyrics, catchy melodies, brilliant guitar parts, and immersive layered synthesizers over a solid drum beat. It’s everything I loved about Billboard Heart on top of the subject matter being fit for a finale. It got me excited to hear how they would close such a vibrant collection.
Really, I could go on about every track on the album. Each one feels carefully crafted and affectionally assembled while maintaining a raw energy and genuine emotion.
Finally, “Happiness is Not a Given” is a somber and intimate sunset to an otherwise larger than life record. Ending the album on a hushed note adds to what makes the record so beautiful. The group didn’t try to outdo the previous tracks, but rather they give you one last sweet moment with them before once again waving goodbye.
Four years was worth the wait for such a triumphant return. It’s everything I could’ve hoped for and more. Goodbyes are always hard, but we’re waving back, and we’ll be here for you, Deep Sea Diver.
Be sure to follow Deep Sea Diver on Instagram. You can check out the music video for "Billboard Heart" below.