Album #362: Deep Sea Diver – Impossible Weight

• Released: 2020
• Origin: Seattle, Washington, USA
• Label: High Beam/ATO
• Best Track: Eyes are Red (Don’t Be Afraid)

Released in October, Deep Sea Diver’s third album Impossible Weight has been listed as KEXP listeners’ album of the year. It’s the only one of the top 9 I haven’t heard and most of them I enjoyed (the exception being Waxahatchee’s latest which I didn’t care for).

I think this will probably be the last 2020 album I cover as part of the 366, as I’m close to settling on my top 100 albums of the year. I suspect this one will be a late disruption to it. The band, fronted by Jessica Dobson who has worked with the likes of Beck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Connor Oberst, display a real dexterity here.

I wouldn’t say I adore every track – in fact I can take or leave most of the first half of the record – but from sixth track ‘Hurricane’ onwards it’s wonderful. ‘Eyes are Red’ is a fantastic jam and I love Dobson’s bluesy, belted-out voice on ‘Lightning Bolts’.

There’s a lot more I could say about this album, but let’s just wrap it up as a well-crafted, wide ranging LP I should, and will, give more time to.