“We’re always held together / by tiny little threads / and I think I love you the most / when you’re unraveling,” Jessica Dobson of Deep Sea Diver sings on their latest offering of sometimes disco-infused, alternative rock bangers, called Billboard Heart, which just came out on Subpop Records. There is an empathetic thread throughout the record, talking about “Always Waving Goodbye” and “Let Me Go.” And Dobson, a master of metaphor is backed by a band who are masters of nuanced, hook-laden goodness.

“Your confetti of thoughts / are lying on the rug / I’ll let you down easy / you don’t have to get up,” Dobson sings towards the end of the album. Like the best music, she doesn’t tell you what to think or feel all the time but lays out her emotions with imagery that speaks in volumes. Images like “this spider in the milkshake I’ve been drinking.” It is often dark imagery, but as she sings in the album, “See in the dark / there’s no need to find another way,” giving helpful advice for the times we feel the most lost.

They are songs to either have a weird party to or carry you through the most difficult, confusing times. “I’ll be the door you can open up / Into the arms of an ocean.” As Subpop is making a resurgence, Deep Sea Diver are surrounded by some of music’s best, for example, featuring Maddison Cunningham on this album, and touring as an opener recently for Eddie Vedder’s Pearl Jam. The appeal of the music, besides its absolute unique sonic beauty, is that the songs are full of poetic heart and soul, so that Billboard Heart is a perfect name for the record. Though in the song, the billboard says, “Please don’t revive,” to which Dobson replies in heroic honesty: “I would paint all over it / but I’m afraid of hearts.”

There are a myriad of wonderful musical moments, like the guitar solo lead towards the end of “Always Waving Goodbye.” Maddison Cunningham and Jessica Dobson’s voices are a match made in indie rock heaven on the song “Let Go,” and it’s accompanied by a video of two of the coolest ladies in rock n roll strolling through the city and exchanging jackets and looks. It’s a good time to be a Deep Sea Diver fan, and it’s a solid collection of eleven songs, ending with perhaps the most empathetic song of the bunch, “Happiness Is Not A Given,” which might be the most beautiful track on the album, as well.

“I’m carrying a shovel / it’s pointed at the tip / like Mount Everest / like Mount Everest.” “I’m working my way / through shards of soil / I’m carrying a shovel / I’m carrying a shovel,” Dobson sings on the song of the same name. It is imagery that could apply to any number of things, generational trauma, social support systems, or just finding the perfect guitar lick or sung melody, of which there are many on this album. It’s an album made to be played over and over again, and throughout this year, bands and artists will have a hard time topping it. They are the type of band who might, like they suggest, end up on a billboard. But they’re as intimate as a good friend, who thankfully shares your musical taste, as well.

Order Billboard Heart by Deep Sea Diver HERE