Singer and guitarist Jessica Dobson grew up near an all-ages venue in Anaheim, California. Now based in Seattle, Dobson’s guitar indie pop band, Deep Sea Diver, returns to Eugene Sept. 20 at Eugene’s storied all-ages venue, WOW Hall. Deep Sea Diver is supporting Billboard Heart, their fourth full-length album, released this year, and their first release for Sub Pop Records.
Dobson says the venue near her home in Anaheim was called Chain Reaction. “The place was absolutely run down, and I’m not sure how it was even considered a venue,” Dobson recalls, “but that’s where we went, and that’s where we hung out. It was safe, it was fun. I absolutely love all-ages venues, and I love kid energy. I’m all about it.”
Did access to an all-ages space help her become a musician?
“Absolutely,” Dobson says, “Because when you see all of your friends playing in bands, and that’s something you want to do, it just makes it easier when there’s a doorway open to be able to do that.”
Deep Sea Diver plays propulsive, guitar-centered indie rock. Above it all is Dobson’s strong alto singing voice, telling triumphant stories of heartbreak and self-discovery.
Melodically, Deep Sea Diver shows a Shins influence — or maybe it’s the other way around. Dobson played lead guitar in the Portland indie rock group. In 2011, she performed with The Shins at WOW Hall, and again in Eugene the next year at Cuthbert Amphitheater.
Dobson also toured in Beck’s band and with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Performing every night alongside Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ exuberant lead singer, Karen O, influenced her on-stage performance.
On Billboard Heart, much like the rest of their work, Deep Sea Diver’s sound might also recall Aimee Mann, but whereas Mann leans singer-songwriter, Dobson, the band’s primary songwriter, is a natural front person with rock ‘n’ roll in her DNA.
In the songs, Dobson trades hooks between her voice and guitar melodies, and her solos are raw and ferocious, influenced, Dobson says, by guitarists like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.
“Just the way he approaches the guitar,” Dobson says of her admiration for Radiohead’s lead guitarist. “He is also very classically trained and just has such complex, quilted patterns.”
“I think the consistent theme,” Dobson explains of the guitarists that have inspired her, is that it’s “not shredding. It’s melodic and it’s tasteful. I try to stay attached to that realm.”
Deep Sea Diver’s first three records were well-received on small independent labels. Seattle public radio station KEXP listeners voted Deep Sea Diver’s Impossible Weight their favorite album of 2020.
With a large indie label like Sub Pop now in their corner, Dobson says doors have opened up for her group. “Every little piece that’s been added,” she says, “has helped build a better foundation for us as a band.”
On the last few Deep Sea Diver tours, Dobson says, her group has held their songs a lot looser. On stage, she says, “we’ll extend songs, do weird interludes,” or “have freak-out moments” that she calls “controlled chaos.”
Supporting Deep Sea Diver at WOW Hall is Morpho, whose singer and guitarist, Kristyn Chapman, sits in with Deep Sea Diver on second guitar this tour.
Deep Sea Diver and Morpho perform 8 pm Saturday, Sept. 20, at WOW Hall, 291 West 8th Avenue. Tickets are $20 advance, $25 day of the show. The concert is all-ages.