SOUNDTRACK: DEEP SEA DIVER-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #214 (May 25, 2021).
I had not heard of Deep Sea Diver before this year. But her song “Impossible Weight” is definitely one of my favorite songs of the last year. Apparently, last year NPR voted “Stop Pretending” as one of their favorite song of 2020, so she clearly writes great songs.
She’s also got a keen sense for presentation, as soon as you see her set.
She also chose a very particular location for the shoot: “There were countless times this past year that I wanted to be transported out of my house and into a different world,” the singer and guitarist explains to NPR via email. “One of my favorite and most inspiring worlds is that of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. I wanted to pay homage to the show by recreating the red room for our Tiny Desk.”
I’m not saying that that would be terribly hard to do, but it certainly took a bit of effort. And it looks awesome.
Inside the red room, the set includes three tracks from Deep Sea Diver’s marvelous 2020 album, Impossible Weight… joining the band are some special guests: Natalie Schepman and Meegan Closner of the band Joseph sing background vocals, and Dobson’s Beagle, Henry, makes an appearance. (Dobson claims he’s the only one who didn’t care that Deep Sea Diver couldn’t tour last year.)
“Impossible Weight” sounds fantastic. I really love everything about it. From the mutes guitar intro to the super catchy chorus to the wordless hook. Every time I heard it on the radio, I was singing along to that chorus.
But that
was then
and this is now
I tried
so hard
not to let you all down
It’s an impossible weight
So I’ll just let you down now
On the record, Sharon Van Etten sings some part of it. I’m not sure what–I assumed Sharon sang the chorus, but it sounds the same when Dobson sings it here. But in this Tiny Desk two thirds of the band Joseph joins her on backing vocals (I wonder why Allison wasn’t part of it) and they sound perfect.
After the song her drummer (and husband) brings out Henry, who gets a credit.
“Lights Out” is up next and wow does it rock. It’s got a great fuzzy bass intro from Elijah Thomson. I feel like her voice sounds a bit like Torres here (no bad thing). The sprinkling of keys from Elliot Jackson are a subtle touch, as is his later guitar playing. But man, the guitar solo that Jessica plays absolutely rips–she gets a fantastic sound. After the solo the song gets quiet for a minute but it slowly builds in power. Mansen’s drumming by the end of the song is exhausting to watch. The song comes to a fantastic abrupt end and it really feels like it needs a crowd cheering after it (so it’s nice that Joseph is off stage to provide the cheers).
She moves to the piano for “Wishing” where she shows off
an impressive homemade bolo tie that she crafted from an NPR enamel pin and “a little bit of duct tape.”
Pianos tend to mean ballad, and this song is more ballady for sure. The synths give it a retro feel, although Mansen provides some good rumbling drums for the catchy chorus. I also got a huge kick out of the end when she plays a chord and sings “Awesome.”
“Stop Pretending,” was chosen as one of NPR Music’s favorite songs of 2020.
It has a cool opening guitar riff and later in the song the guitar sound she gets is an amazing roar. In fact the end of the song builds to a great wall of noise with intense drumming and some great bass lines while Jessica plays an amazing solo.
[READ: October 10, 2016] The Terrible Two Get Worse
I really enjoyed the first two books in this series (Mac Barnett is such a hilarious writer–or maybe Jory John is the funny one? Well, I know from past books that mac is hilarious). But I forgot about the series and didn’t realize that this one (or the next one) had come out.
So book three is different from the first two because it is set in the woods. In the summer!
Niles and Miles are spying on Papa Company. Papa Company is a patrol at a summer camp–the wonderfully named Yawnee Valley Yelling and Push up Camp. Papa Company is run by Josh Barkin. Josh is the son of the boys’ Principal and their archenemy. He has two cadets in his patrol. He has nicknamed them Dugout and Mudflap. It’s not entirely clear if Josh is supposed to be taking these boys on as his own patrol, but the only rules at camp seem to be yelling and push ups, so….
Josh was sent to the camp last summer as punishment. But he loved the yelling and meanness so much that he asked if he could stay there all summer…and return again this year. The camp is big on acronyms, and the authors have a lot of fun with them (right up until the end!) (more…)
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Noah Kahan was the headliner for Friday night.
I Just Read About That... 