(Photo Credit - Matt Wignall)
Advance Review - Deep Sea Diver: Impossible Weight (October 16, 2020)
Seattle-based Deep Sea Diver is back with their third full-length release, their first since 2016's Secrets. The release of the album has been prefaced by the release of the self-titled single, which features Sharon Van Etten it's a masterful track that has been received positively by the public and on radio play. From the very first track on Impossible Weight it's easy to see that band leader Jessica Dobson and co. are trying to produce something that's on a grander scale than their past efforts. And to put it quite simply, it works.
The album explores massive expanses sonically and themes of critical introspection. Dobson was quoted as saying: "We went into the studio pretty quickly after the tour ended, and I sort of hit a wall where I was feeling very detached from making music, and unable to find joy in it...I realized I had to try to rediscover my voice as a songwriter, and figure out the vocabulary for what I needed to say on this album". The voice that Dobson ends up displaying on Impossible Weight is poignant, relevant, and important. On tracks like "Wishing" Dobson pines to be another person, a feeling that I'm sure we can all relate to, especially in the difficult times that we've currently been dealt. But it's more than just that emotion, Dobson ties it back to how others can impact our feelings of ourselves, to the point that we're driven down.
To be clear, the album is not entirely massive sonic landscapes. On the track "Switchblade" Dobson and co. slow it down, bringing a melody that bounces vibrantly against Dobson's vocals, but never gets too big for itself. Deep Sea Diver play with alt, indie, and electronic genres to come up with a nice blend that serves them well on Impossible Weight. It perfectly conveys the inner turmoil they're looking to go for thematically, but never gets down on itself. Basically, there are sad themes here of course, but you can still dance to it. This one might just be near the top of the releases set for October. You definitely won't want to miss it.
Rating - 5/5