I get there at 5:30 PM. Soundcheck is just starting, clothes are strewn about the greenroom, and the bar above the venue has barely enough patrons to fill out table. I leave the venue at 10:45 PM. A mix of speaker feedback and screaming crowds leave me deafened, my heels feel like they are about to actively fall off my feet, and enough smoke has been dispatched from the smoke machine to make the stage look like a Sublime show.
Obviously, it is hard to tell much about a show solely from how it began and how it ended, and arguably the same can be said for Deep Sea Diver, a Seattle based indie rock project described as “indie rock with some kind of dream pop elements and kraut inspiration” by the woman who put it all together: Jessica Dobson.
Last week, I had the opportunity to meet up with Jessica right before her show at the Thunderbird Cafe in Pittsburgh, where we were able to dive into her thoughts about the Billboard Heart tour, going unplugged, and the beautiful imperfections that arose with the conception of this most recent album.
I was admittedly lucky to get the chance to meet with her, between the band celebrating the release of the album, and reasoning behind this entire tour, Billboard Heart, and the litany of shows that have preoccupied them in the past month and will be keeping them busy until the end of 2025, with a brief interlude across the pond in Europe smack dab in the middle of it all.
There has been a gap since the band was last on the road, as Jessica notes, “We all know in 2020, Impossible Weight came out. That was our last record. And it was excruciating not to be able to properly tour that record. And so, I feel like a very palpable excitement energy of people… I didn't get to see on that last record.”
This is not a journey she or the band is going on alone, however. The previous collection of shows has found her accompanied by folk-rock duo Byland, though it is clear from her remarks that her and Allie Byland, namesake for the act, were in contact well before the tour.
“I actually started out giving her guitar lessons. And I was just like, ‘Oh, who's this talented person?’ Like, she's like a sister to me, but I have just kind of been watching her grow and flourish.”
It was no wonder why Jessica then tapped her to accompany DSD on the first leg of their tour, remarking that “it was a no brainer to take [Allie] out on this tour because she just brings something that is, I think, truly special and magnificent and kind of this dark, brooding, ballad-y folk music that I love!”
This collaboration didn’t just extend to billing, especially with Allie Byland being invited on stage for a rendition of "Let Me Go”, a track that was originally written and recorded as part of a collaboration between the band and folk-adjacent artist Madison Cunningham. It was somewhat astounding how easily Allie slipped into the role, harmonizing on the songs haunting lyrics about a toxic codependency and the need to let it go (And you follow me down/But it's too late for that now/And why are you parading/Down the streets that I'm mangling?).
However, the process for a track like that and many other ones on the album share an overarching theme: now was not the time to be perfect. “The song came effortlessly. We had tried to write it in the past and there was always… we always have fun doing it. But this was the first thing that we felt like, oh, we've got something here. And she just so happened to be in the studio with my co-producer. So, [the producer] was just like, ‘I'm just going to press record.’”
Compared to Deep Sea Diver’s previous albums, there was a feeling saddled with Jessica that it was time to let herself be for this album and embrace whatever imperfections may arise, even coming back to feelings that just weren’t sitting right the first time around. This wasn’t just meant to be a lyrical theme, even if tracks like “Billboard Heart” (And I don't wanna go back there, I don't wanna go back there) or “Happiness is Not a Given” (Don′t go kicking and screaming/You've got to believe that there′s more) make it seem so. This idea had thoroughly and truly seeped its way into the production of the album itself.
Jessica remarked “And I had to kind of get past this spirit of like perfection because all that really, truly matters on a record and with songs when you're capturing them is the spirit there.” The greatest example of this philosophy is, at least in my book, is one of the singles from the record: “What Do I Know?”
When asked about her process for the song, Jessica admits that the track started quite meticulously, stating “Originally, that was recorded as a very well-recorded demo at my house. But I thought it was a demo. Like I recorded the drums, the bass, like everything on it, and most of it was like first takes.” There was a point when Jessica seemed to come a revelation, one that would inform the rest of the album. “I had to kind of get past this spirit of like perfection because all that really, truly matters on a record and with songs when you're capturing them is like is the spirit there.”
“That's why I love some of my favorite Elliot Smith records where it's just him on like a Tascam four track. It doesn't sound good. It doesn't matter. The songs are there and there's a spirit and there's a vibe. So, I think like that was one of my favorite things is when we ultimately finish the record, there's all these songs that have like these really weird, like very kind of live and electric, but imperfect moments on them. And What Do I Know is one of them.”
This sentiment, these “imperfect moments”, can also be extended to where one may find DSD playing in the future. When asked on whether or not the band would do anything more unplugged and underground in the future, Jessica seemed absolutely ecstatic about the possibility of a Deep Sea Diver basement show.
“I always love when you can find the whatever that MTV unplugged version or whatever is. I've been trying to even do that a little bit in the set dynamically and really, really strip things down. But I would love to do kind of more of the basement or living room vibes. Like I think I think it's cool.”
“My friend Dave is in this band Pedro the Lion. He'll do a bunch of, like, living room shows and he's really good at like conversing and with questions and ideas. And that's just kind of like his wheelhouse. But I think that a lot of people when they go to a show, they kind of know what to expect. But in those scenes and scenarios, it's a little more just off the cuff. And I think that feels cool.”
It would be easy to say that this band rode off into the sunset, selling a million records and retiring on a pile of riches: a nice and happy ending for them all. Obviously, reality can’t be that simple yet. There is still almost a year’s worth of touring still on the docket for the year, including a bevy of shows in Europe right at the end of 2025.
However, after the show put on during that crisp Sunday night, it’s clear to see they are going into it all with steady footing at the very least. The show ends with cacophonous screaming, sore feet, and hazy smoke. A college DJ walks out with a story.
But what do I know?