It’s only February, but it’s entirely possible Deep Sea Diver made the best rock album of 2025.
Hyperbole aside, it is not an exaggeration to claim “Billboard Heart,” the band’s fourth studio album and first for hometown label Sub Pop, is Deep Sea Diver’s best record to date. And it’s safe to say it will end up on several best-of lists at the end of the year.
Jessica Dobson, the band’s principal songwriter and lead guitarist, spent time playing with Beck, Spoon The Shins and Yeah Yeah Yeahs while also creating music for Deep Sea Diver. On “Billboard Heart” it feels like the band has leveled up with Dobson putting everything she’s learned into each song to make one cohesieve monster of a record.
The album begins on the somewhat quieter note of the title track, but make no mistake “Billboard Heart” is a sneaky guitar-rock record with nearly every song featuring the squeaks and squalls of Dobson’s guitar taking off and stealing the show. “Emergency” starts with a bit of feedback and then immediately breaks into what is possibly the record’s best riff on an album filled with mammoth riffs. “Let Me Go,” which features Madison Cunningham, recalls hints of a guitar-happy Radiohead in their “Hail to the Theif” era in the best way possible. The somewhat ominous “Shovel” is carried by a pounding chug-chug-chug guitar part before blissful keys take over and the song ends in a dance-friendly, synth-driven breakdown.
But “Billboard Heart” isn’t all a guitar-blazing, riff-a-thon of a record. Dobson and the rest of the band have been at it long enough to know when an album needs space to breathe. Songs like “Tiny Threads” and “Loose Change” are a nice reprieve from Dobson’s deft guitar work. The former waits until its fourth minute to begin a short, searing blast of guitar while the latter is mostly acoustic guitar, drums and keys. “Always Waving Goodbye” is another softer song with a vibrant, juiced-up guitar solo that fits perfectly right its middle.
The album closes with the ballad “Happiness Is Not a Given.” After listening to a blissful record filled with memorable guitar parts aplenty, the quiet ending might be a musical shock to the system for some. But instead of it being an unwelcome left turn, it is the perfect ending to a perfect rock record. So take note the rest of 2025, you’ve got a lot of work to do to top “Billboard Heart.”
