Album Review: The Deep End by Jason Ebbs

Pack your car: Jason Ebbs will take you on a trip to the Cape with his cinematic, nostalgia-drenched record, The Deep End.

Bostonian rocker Jason Ebbs follows up his 2019 freshman record, Superego, with The Deep End, a record that emulates Cape Cod in late August—warm and nostalgic with a tinge of melancholy. The album mixes indie and beach rock with catchy lyricism about better summer days and the reluctance of leaving behind summer love; it engenders infectious instrumentation, sun-soaked imagery, and smooth rhythms to deliver a memorable record.

The album opens with “Sister,” which starts with a catchy drum riff laid down as the backing track throughout the song. The verses echo a failed relationship, and the feeling of acceptance: “Tell your sister I’m sorry / It didn’t go down the way she wanted it to / And that’s fine / Maybe we’ll get em the next time.” The song’s continuous riff is a brilliant juxtaposition of the lyrics. The Deep End captures a poignant ambiance, a story of love—and the loss of it at the end of summer.



This theme is continuous throughout the record, reappearing in “Baby Blue”—a charming, sunny love song that chronicles a date between lovers on a summer night: “Baby Blue / Beneath the twilight of a starry night / The sparkle of your dusty hazel eyes / Is all I’ll ever need.” It’s a sweet but clever lovey-dovey track with the tone of a lullaby, accentuated with harmonization similar to Arctic Monkeys’ “Baby I’m Yours.”

“Not Even Over” features a sonic shift that creates a more indie rock vibe to the album as opposed to the opening tracks’ beachy feel. “Not Even Over” features an ethereal, hazy backing track with pumped-up, poppy vocals. This track, as well as “Indie Kids,” showcases Ebb’s talent as a songwriter—both songs are cinematic, reminiscent of a coming-of-age movie. It’s commendable, and certainly another highlight of the album. “Not Even Over” chronicles the narrator on a relatable night out with his crush: “Talking backward and you’re doing the same / You think you know me but you just know my name / This is your scene but you’re well unaware / I only came out cause I knew you’d be there.” Despite using simplistic, catchy language, Ebbs paints a striking, lovesick image of a humid summer night in the middle of a small town.

This type of storytelling through Ebbs’ lyricism flows into “Indie Kids,” one of the best tracks on the album. With instrumentation that channels Two Door Cinema Club, Ebbs spins a story of another night out. The simple imagery, like “smoking Parliaments on the fire escape” and “standing in the corner all night… watching all the indie boys dancing to indie songs,” brings a staggering sense of character to the song. Ebbs also brings back a familiar name: “What’s on your mind standing in the corner all night / Baby blue missing high school and starry nights.” Bringing back “Baby Blue” as the subject of this track was a refreshing homage to the second track, meanwhile adding to the cinematic take Ebbs displays throughout the album.  

The album slows the pace with the harmony-heavy title track. Soothing melodies, backing vocals, and careful guitar plucking conjures up a hazy story of the aftermath of a bad breakup: “The deep end / Changing my mindset / I might be floating / Did she see me, face down / In the deep end?” This type of slow, easy melody reappears in tracks “Forgotten” and “Other Fishies.” 

With The Deep End, Ebbs has created a sun-soaked story that follows the rise—and fall—of a summer fling. It’s an album brimming with striking narratives that lurks under each lo-fi, beachy, head-bobbing track. It brings back memories of summers gone by and memories that have faded, of long-lost Cape Cod nights of youth. While melancholic, it’s an infectious record that will get inside your head —and stay there.