After releasing 2022's
Impossible Weight
,
Deep Sea Diver
hit a bit of a hiccup in the development of their fourth album. Bandleader
Jessica Dobson
, her music and life partner
Peter Mansen
, and multi-instrumentalist
Elliot Jackson
wrote a set of songs and took them to Los Angeles to record them, only to face dissatisfaction and a lack of conviction from day one, resulting in their heading home without an album. After a needed break and discussions with producer
Andy D. Park
(
Death Cab for Cutie
Pedro the Lion
),
Dobson
felt newly inspired, and they recorded the same songs at home in Seattle with
Park
, who helped add some newfound vibrancy and luster to their post-punk-inflected indie rock sound. Also helping out were contributors such as
Caroline Rose
Yuuki Matthews
the Shins
Crystal Skulls
Landlady
's
Adam Schatz
, pedal steel guitarist
Greg Leisz
, and Grammy-winning indie folk artist
Madison Cunningham
. The resulting
Billboard Heart
was impressive enough to draw the interest of
Sub Pop
, which signed on to release the album. The sleek, dramatic title track sets the stage with a lush, grooving indie rock bolstered by shimmery synths, textured guitar effects, and a somewhat oversaturated sound that permeates and distinguishes the album.
Cunningham
is featured duet-style on the surprisingly angsty "Let Me Go," a song with gritty, dissonant guitar interplay and lyrics about another person making everything about you worse.
cited the influence of electroclash and the energy of hardcore on the driving "Emergency," a song whose wrap-up includes a memorably glitchy guitar interjection by
. Smooth synthesizer textures duel with grating guitar riffs on the melodic "Shovel" ("Digging for worth"), and the slinky, borderline power ballad "Always Waving Goodbye" makes a hook out of "I know you know I know" amid dribbles of feedback and clatter. Throughout,
's passionate, punk-inflected vocals, flaws-and-all instrumental takes, and an actively-burning-out vibe sell songs that are anxious even in affectionate moments. It seems fitting, then, when
ends with a song called "Happiness Is Not a Given." The album's one true ballad, its quandary is illustrated by a piano that swims upstream against humming synths and processed drums for its place onstage. ~ Marcy Donelson