Kevin Bronson on April 2nd, 2020

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Seattle’s Deep Sea Diver returned Wednesday with their first new music in way-too-long, and if there’s song that at once embodies our current malaise and offers hope for a way out, “Stop Pretending” is it.

“This life is dangerous / there’s no need to build those walls / Our love is all we have / Who knows where we’re heading …” singer-guitarist Jessica Dobson belts, adding “Honey I don’t pretend to understand / why everything’s falling apart.” It’s punctuated by an abrasive solo that is just about everything we feel right now.

Deep Sea Diver has released two highly regarded full-lengths, 2012’s “History Speaks” and 2016’s “Secrets,” long working around Dobson’s other work, which has included playing guitar for the likes of Beck, the Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others. At full strength, Deep Sea Diver is comprised of Dobson, an Orange County native, and her drummer-husband Peter Mansen, along with Garrett Gue and Elliot Jackson.

Remarkably, “Stop Pretending” was written, recorded, mixed and mastered in just two days at the Mansen-Dobson home. It was created via their “Stay at Home Stems” collaboration series, in which the band uploads parts to Soundcloud and invites others to co-write using them.

As for song, Dobson writes on social media, “The way we have learned to deal with pain is to create something that keeps us alive inside and to share that with others. To create an alternate reality of sorts, while also being present in the here and now. And right now, there is so much pain, and we are dealing with it in the only way we know how.”

When Deep Sea Diver was on tour last fall, they were said to be working on their third album. It can’t come soon enough.

||| Stream: “Stop Pretending”

||| Previously: Live at the Bootleg, live at the Teragram, “Secrets,” “One by One,” “NWO” “You Go Running”