Chicago’s hard rockin’ post hardcore emo trio Heavy Seas returns with By Degrees — a record that doesn’t sugarcoat its intentions. Across ten tracks, the band threads together raw emotional urgency with sharp-edged songwriting, locking into themes of loss, disillusionment, and navigating upheaval in all its forms.
The album plays like a document of emotional shifts and fractured connections, delivered with a weight that reflects the personal nature of its lyrics. It hits that Wolves Like Us nerve for me — that heavy, worn-out kind of heartache I’ve been missing. Fans of Samiam, Jawbreaker and Hot Water Music will also love it.
Grab it via Engineer Records, Creep Records or Cobra Cafe.
This time around, the band worked with J. Robbins (Jawbox) in Baltimore, who handled both production and bass. Alongside Ronnie Dicola (drums) and Jeff Dean (vocals/guitar), the lineup shaped a heavier, more driven sound that doesn’t flinch. From the start, Dean makes it clear that these songs weren’t written for comfort. “It’s about feeling overwhelmed and questioning everything you thought life was, and realizing it all changes,” he says about opener [To Breathe]. The track was the last one written for the record, and Robbins’ bass lines, in Dean’s words, “really took it someplace special.”
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Relationships and the baggage they leave behind form much of the album’s lyrical spine. [Reflection], built quickly off a beat Dicola started playing during rehearsal, touches on the fallout that can come with ending bands and creative partnerships. “I knew I wanted it to be more hardcore and screamed than sung,” Dean says. “It’s about music and bands and the relationships that can fall apart when they end.”
The album revolves around the collapse of personal and creative relationships. It looks at what happens when the glue holding people together — bands, families, partners — wears out. “It’s about feeling overwhelmed and questioning everything you thought life was,” Dean says about “To Breathe”, the final song written for the record. “Reflection” takes a more direct hit at the toll music itself can take on relationships: “It’s about music and bands and the relationships that can fall apart when they end.”
That sense of aftermath runs through “By Degrees”, written in the wake of personal fallout. “If Only I” pulls from a moment of clarity during divorce, when Dean’s son told him, “Daddy, you need a compass so when you’re lost in the world you can find your way back home.” In “Disconsolate”, the focus shifts to betrayal in creative partnerships: “Lyrics are about trusting people you create and share art with only to have it blow up in your face.”
Elsewhere, “Shift In Phase” emerged slowly over months, unlocked with help from Scott Padden. “Where We Are” came together spontaneously in the studio — most of it tracked in one take. The rhythm section drives much of the record’s weight, with Robbins’ bass work often shaping the tone of each song on the spot. “I had no clue what the bass was going to be or how it would affect the mood,” Dean says. “It was so awesome to watch it all come together.”
The sound choices follow the emotional tension. Tracks like “Castaway” and “Expressed” lean into layered textures — sometimes heavy, sometimes open and dreamlike. “I wanted it dreamy, almost shoegaze, but have the music just pummel,” Dean says of “Expressed”.
This one hits a very specific nerve — the kind you feel if you’ve been missing Wolves Like Us. That heavy, melodic ache that doesn’t try to fix anything, just lets it burn slow.
Full track-by-track commentary by Jeff Dean follows below.
To Breathe
This was actually the last song musically I wrote for the album. I stumbled onto the big chords for the verse and it kinda just wrote itself. The lyrics are framed from a conversational point of view, and it’s about feeling overwhelmed and questioning everything you thought life was, and realizing it all changes. I really love how this song came together, and I think J Robbins bass playing on this really took it someplace special.
Reflection
Ronnie started playing the drum beat for this randomly at practice, and I just started hearing the chords in my head, and all of the sudden we had a song. Very on the spot and of the moment. I knew I wanted it to be more hardcore and screamed than sung, I started working on the words and it just fell in place. This one for me is very important, it’s about music and bands and the relationships that can fall apart when they end.
By Degrees
This might be my favorite song I’ve written, at least in the top 5. I fucking love playing this song! I had an idea in my head that I wanted it to move like a Side Show song, like something off Lip Read Confusion, but it settled into this groove that Ronnie started in with, and I leaned in. The words are about the aftermath of relationships ending and struggling to figure out how to move forward. When we went to Baltimore to record this album with J, I had no clue what the bass was going to be or how it would affect the mood of the songs. It was so awesome to watch it all come together. It felt special.
In My Life
So this is one that I knew I wanted to start with bass and drums. I had made a demo that I sent to J with me playing bass very poorly , but it was the idea of how I thought things should go. When he and Ronnie kicked in on this together, I was floored! So much power in the rhythm section on this one. The guitar solo in the bridge was a last minute decision, but I’m stoked it went that way.
Shift In Phase
I think this was the first song I wrote for the album. Another big open chord song. I had the chorus vocal melody in my head for awhile, but completely stuck on the verse for months. I ended up reaching out to my friend Scott Padden and asked him if he had any thoughts on an approach. I had always pictured it leading in with guitar, he suggested starting vocals with guitar. I tried it and it all materialized.
If Only I
This song is based on something my son said to me. He said Daddy you need a compass so when you’re lost in the world you can find your way back home. It hit me so hard at the time,especially navigating divorce, that I knew I needed to write a song around it. I had the verse guitar stuff written for a while, and I liked it, but struggled to write the rest. Eventually came on the intro riff, which I thought kinda sounds like Sonic Youth, and just rolled with that vibe in mind.
Castaway
I knew I wanted this to feel heavy musically from a drum stand point. I had a chorus vocal that just wasn’t working, and J suggested that I try and simplify it, and it came together. I thought layering the back ups sounded cool. Last minute decision to add guitar leads on the bridge of this one as well.
Disconsolate
I knew I wanted this to be a pissed off heavy song. Lyrics are about trusting people you create and share art with only to have it blow up in your face, and realizing you won’t be the same because of it. Musically I wanted the verses open sounding with distant guitars and then big heavy guitar chords for the chorus. I like how this one came together.
Expressed
I really love the guitar riff in this one. I wanted this song to be aggressive, but also pretty and open. Some pretty emotional lyrics in this one, in the vein of the others. I like how the chorus vocals came together. I wanted it to be dreamy, almost shoegaze, but have the music just pummel.
Where We Are
I had really no clue how this one was going to work. I knew I wanted it bass driven and open, but had no idea what the bass would be. I knew that whatever J was going to write was going to make or break the song, and I wouldn’t know til we were actually in the studio. When Ronnie and J kicked in together on this, I knew it was going to be special. The bridge came together on the spot. I knew I was just going to ride one octave, and we just let it happen. I think this song was just one take, so the whole ending was just what happened in the moment.
