Deep Sea Diver Announce New Album; Share Single + Video for "Lights Out"

Seattle's own Deep Sea Diver have announced their third album — titled Impossible Weight — will be released on October 16th via High Beam Records (distributed by ATO Records). Check out the first single "Lights Out" below via an animated video created by frontwoman Jessica Dobson and her husband/drummer Peter Mansen. Dobson tells KEXP:

‘Lights Out’ was born out of a season where it felt like I couldn’t see farther than a foot in front of me for quite some time. There was a pestilent cloud of darkness around me, but I was fighting to keep my spirit intact and not fall into a deeper depression. Ultimately, it's a song about the desire of wanting to be in a more life giving place but knowing that you might need to be carried by the ones you love to get there. Vulnerability is always more powerful than trying to keep it together on your own.

The forthcoming full-length finds Dobson confronting the heavyness of her emotions. Before the quarantine, she started volunteering at Aurora Commons, a drop-in center for "unhoused neighbors to rest, prepare a meal, connect to resources, and collectively create a healthy and vibrant community." In a press release, she shares, "I spent a lot of time with the women who frequent the Commons, and it taught me a new depth of empathy. They’re people who don’t have the luxury of going back to a home at the end of the day and hiding behind those four walls, so they’re sort of forced to be vulnerable with what their needs are. Talking with them and listening to them really freed me up to start writing about things I’d never written about before in my songs.”

Not only was Dobson learning more about her community, she was learning more about herself during this time. “I was adopted and just recently met my birth mother, and found out that I’m half-Mexican and half-Jewish. Discovering my heritage and learning things about myself that I never knew before really fed into that question of ‘Where do I belong?’” 

With her newfound perspective, the band entered Seattle’s Studio X and The Hall of Justice to begin recording, with Dobson behind the production board alongside Andy D. Park (Pedro the Lion, Ruler). “I’d never produced a record before and I started out with low expectations for myself, but at some point I realized, ‘I can do this.’ I decided to completely trust my voice and make really bold decisions in all my production calls — just push everything to the absolute outer edges.” 

Especially right now when the world is in disarray and there’s so much fear, I want this record to give people room to feel whatever they need to feel... Because the point is that the impossible weight isn’t yours to carry alone — that’s why it’s impossible. 

Even today's accompanying video displays Dobson's tenaciousness. "With all the time we were spending at home while quarantining, Peter and I learned how to edit and animate videos," she told KEXP. "When we started making the lyric video for ‘Lights Out’, I got the idea to add guitar tabs and animate them just like the lyrics. I had never seen that done before…. It makes them feel move alive.  I also wanted to pay homage to my childhood and how much fun I had learning how to play songs through reading tabs. I hope other people can fun with this video, too."

Throughout all her recent questioning and discoveries, Dobson has crafted an album that she hopes will bring others the solace it brought her. “Especially right now when the world is in disarray and there’s so much fear, I want this record to give people room to feel whatever they need to feel,” she says via a press release. “I hope it helps them recognize that it’s okay to fall apart, and that they’re meant to let others in instead of trying to work through everything on their own. Because the point is that the impossible weight isn’t yours to carry alone — that’s why it’s impossible.”