Diver Through – ‘All Nighter’ [Album Review]

Brooklyn-based Diver Through releases a nine-track album. Entitled All Nighter, the record was produced by Chuck Nash and Michael Baynes and mixed by Alex Dezen.

Diver Through, the brainchild of Michael Baynes, is made up of Baynes (guitar, vocals), Ken Nasta (drums), and Mike Rella (bass). The band’s name – Diver Through – was first used in 2013, when Baynes and some friends recorded a batch of songs in a single night. They released the songs as an EP called Scattered Days.

After the EP, the name lay dormant while Michael pursued songwriting in Nashville. Later, in 2018, he releases a single, “Wherever You Are I’m Going,” under his own name. The following year, Diver Through was resurrected, releasing two demos, “Be Enough” and “Go.” In 2020, Diver Through dropped their album, The Way We Were.

All Nighter begins with “That Side Of Me Is Rage,” opening on grungy guitars and swirling tones flowing into a tight, straight-ahead rhythm. As the guitars take on glistening colors, the tune expands into tasty, shimmering washes.

Talking about the song, Baynes shares, “This one speaks for itself. I was spending time in a place I didn’t want to be during a very divided time, and I wrote a song to get the anger out. I wanted to open this record with a loud song since the last one (The Way We Were) opened with a dreamy instrumental. It worked out.”

From a purely subjective viewpoint, highlights include “To Death,” featuring a creamy, gleaming melody that conjures up suggestions of the Gin Blossoms or R.E.M. Scintillating and gliding, the tune forms a bittersweet earworm.

With its rumbling drums and luminous accents, the title track delivers alluring layers of music, while Baynes displays a scrummy falsetto. Whereas “A Slow Path,” a personal favorite, pushes out creamy textures, soft, glistening, and appealing.

Diver Through

“VIALS” rides a crunching mid-tempo rhythm topped by jangly guitars and Baynes’ easy-to-listen-to vocals. For some reason, this track recalls the Goo Goo Dolls because of its undulating movement and Baynes’ lush voice.

Simultaneously vaguely familiar and oh so persuasive, All Nighter is a grand album brimming with tantalizing sonic balance.

All Nighter Track Listing:

1. That Side Of Me Is Rage
2. Heal What Hurts
3. To Death
4. All Nighter
5. Time Capsule
6. A Slow Path
7. VIALS
8. Ice Cubes
9. Blue Ocean Blue

Run Time: 30:33
Release Date: September 9, 2022
Record Label: Subluna Records