Most of the albums I’ve been giving shout-outs to or will end up on my Top 10 have received a decent amount of national attention, but for today’s review, here’s a more local favorite. Not that Deep Sea Diver doesn’t deserve to be a little more nationally known, but it’s hard to say I would have heard of them if it wasn’t for Seattle indie station KEXP championing this Seattle-based artist. Also, it’s a little hard to call anything from the Emerald City “local” at this point, since the pandemic has caused this year to be the longest period I’ve spent away from the Pacific Northwest. But listening to the always-reliable KEXP online has been a nice way of staying connected to the region, which for all its changes in the past 10 years can still churn out great indie rock from time to time.
Though Impossible Weight feels a bit like a band coming into their own, Jessica Dobson, the singer/songwriter at the heart of it is a bit of an indie rock veteran. She’s been a touring guitarist for the likes of Beck, The Shins, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and gets a little help here from another indie-famous friend (Sharon Van Etten) on the album’s fantastic title track. That said, the rest of the album puts Dobson’s talents front and center, as her varied guitar work is on full display (especially on the 7-minute “Eyes Are Red”) and pair nicely with her searing vocals on the songs that really rip.
Sharon Van Etten would probably be a good comparison for Deep Sea Diver’s brand of melancholy atmospherics, but due to Dobson’s guitar prowess, she can definitely rock more. Which has made Impossible Weight a nice late-year surprise, since I feel like I spent most of this year avoiding more traditional-sounding indie rock. But the fact of the matter is, hearing a band this honed and this tight is a blast, while the fact that its lead songwriter has also crafted her best bunch of songs yet just made this album impossible to resist.
Favorite Tracks: “Lights Out”, “Wishing”, “Impossible Weight (feat. Sharon Van Etten)”
This rules, thanks for the head’s up.