Dec 21

Dec 21 12.

DIIV - Is The Is Are

[Captured Tracks]

DIIV’s debut album Oshin was both a breath of fresh air and a complete retread of all the great dream-pop/shoegaze tropes of the 90s and 2000s. What kept it interesting was the dynamics that Zach Smith and his band brought to the table; intertwining jangling guitars, thrusting rhythm sections, and a penchant for eyes-down gliding to a bumpy and thrilling finale. Is The Is Are is the long-awaited follow-up, and for anyone who loved DIIV’s sound on the first album, I can’t imagine them having anything but fun when listening to it.

In the years off between albums, Zach Smith has had a tough time; dealing with heroin addiction, an unnecessarily public relationship with Sky Ferreira, being arrested for possession, homophobic bandmates – of course this has all impacted the sound of the new album. While the basic template of quicksilver guitars and golden melodies is still firmly intact, there is undoubtedly more of a darkness or edge on this album. Zach Smith’s lyrics are buried deep in the sound, so you might only catch snippets of his words like “I was high but now I feel low, my own private I don’t know,” or “once it feels right you just lost the fight,” which give hints at his inner mental struggles. These whispers are illuminated craftily by the musicality of the songs, which casts long shadows via its deep anchoring bass and projects sharp shards of light via its luminous guitars.

Is The Is Are flits back and forth between these two polarities of happiness or sadness – but one is always tinged with the other, which realises the addiction and depression that went into the creation of this album. For every languorous, deflating ode like “Bent (Roi’s Song)” there’s a high-speed burner like “Incarnate Devil.” For every seething, brutally dark churner like “Mire (Grant’s Song)” there’s a hopeful, weightless pop punk jam like “Under The Sun,” or the glistening ice-skating "Loose Ends." This is all put together best in the utterly stunning “Dopamine,” which takes these sun-drenched, irresistible guitar melodies and pairs them with one of Smith’s most frail and needy vocal performances, earning themselves a truly stunning and captivating song: “You’re the sun and I am your cloud / Burning down, running in place / Got so high I finally felt like myself.”

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Below you can see my top 50 albums of the year list.