Deep Sea Diver Rocks Easy Street with Dreamy New Record

On February 28, Seattle band Deep Sea Diver released their fourth album, Billboard Heart, their first release on the Sub Pop label. As part of their promotion of the record, the band performed songs from the album on release night at Easy Street Records in West Seattle and hosted a record signing event for fans after the show.

Deep Sea Diver is led by singer-songwriter Jessica Dobson and backed by her husband, drummer Peter Mansen, bassist Garrett Gue, and guitarist and keyboardist Elliot Jackson. Among the band’s collaborations, Dobson has worked as a touring musician with The Shins and Beck, and Deep Sea Diver also opened for Seattle grunge legend Pearl Jam in 2023 and 2024, contributing to their loyal Seattle fanbase. 

West Seattle showed up in droves for the band on release night. Easy Street Records’ cozy performance space was packed to the brim, and the crowd spilled out into the outdoor bar extension on the street, where some stood only feet away from zooming cars. When speaking to the crowd, Mansen stated that Deep Sea diver hoped to “make a small dent in the chaos” and emphasized “using our imaginations for good and for love” in dark times. 

The band performed a total of eight songs from the new record, which covered a wide variety of tones and sounds. The opener, “Billboard Heart,” began with a droning synth that enveloped the audience before picking up into an indie rock banger. “Tiny Threads,” a devastating and moody number that references Greek mythology, exhibited some of Dobson’s most emotive live singing. “Shovel” alternated between fierce verses and a soaring synth-pop chorus over the words “You’ll be taken care of.” The set closed out with the closing track on the album, “Happiness is Not a Given,” a pensive, piano-based song which Dobson dedicated to everyone in the audience. 

Billboard Heart cover art

Neil Krug

Billboard Heart is an immersive and cohesive album. Dobson’s voice is at times an emotionally gripping wail, at other times so soft it could melt into water, but always piercing and distinct. With lines like, “Floating down the banks of another shore” (from “See in the Dark”) and “Time is the net that I keep dragging on the lake” (from “Be Sweet”), as well as imagery of sunken ships and clouds, sky, and ocean, this record builds an ethereal nautical world. Carried out by waves of guitar that float on colorful imagery, Billboard Heart feels like an encapsulation of Seattle; the gritty, indie rock edge in the songwriting mixes with themes of natural landscapes.

Another theme on the record is Dobson’s use of horror-inflected imagery in descriptions of emotional states. In one moment on “Shovel,” she says over and over in a voice that builds from quiet to belting, “Bruised and I’m blistered / And I’ll dig till my hands fall off.” In “Let Me Go,” which features Madison Cunningham, who performed with Andrew Bird at last summer’s Bumbershoot Music Festival, Dobson sings, “Strip my scales,” and “Rip my wings.” Meanwhile, in “Happiness is Not a Given,” she sings “In a field full of ravens / A scarecrow takes flight,” an image at once haunting and hopeful.

My personal highlight on the album is “Loose Change,” which, while shrouded in poetic phrasing, has themes of continuing to stumble forwards through something hard despite the urge to turn back. When driving back home to Phinney Ridge from West Seattle after the band’s performance, I played this song over and over, the simple acoustic guitar strums and Dobson’s gutting melodies intertwining and building towards an overwhelming chorus before returning to the same soft, tear-inducing way it started. 

Easy Street Records is a hub for the arts in West Seattle. The store hosts record listening parties, live performances, and even the West Seattle Book Club. For more information on upcoming events, visit their events calendar. 

Beginning March 26, Deep Sea Diver will set out on tour. The band will be returning to their hometown on May 17 with a performance at Seattle’s The Showbox, supported by singer-songwriter Byland. Deep Sea Diver have already established themselves as one of the most thrilling acts to come out of Seattle in recent years. With Billboard Heart, it feels as if the band has tapped into new depths, and this is just the beginning.