The nu-gaze frontrunners finally bow to the pressure and let the pop-indie crossover happen. For the most part though, it still sounds like quintessential DIIV.
Since they landed in 2011, DIIV have survived (and thrived) off their refusal to follow obvious industry trends. As music became openly fluid between genres and everyone started collaborating with everyone, DIIV stayed firmly within their lane and continued to execute their own brand of gloom-ridden shoegaze to virtual perfection, culminating in the triumphantly bleak Deceiver in 2019. Driven by some pretty heavy personal themes attached to frontman Zachary Cole Smith’s highly publicised struggles with addiction, the departure from their early, dream-pop inspired style led them towards something weightier in its sonic depth.
This evolution of dread-heavy sounds would continue on their next outing, 2024’s equally captivating Frog In Boiling Water. Interestingly enough, after years of relative inactivity following the release of Deceiver and the collective social exile of COVID, the group emerged to find they had been unexpectedly promoted to the role of veterans in the shoegaze revival. Much like fellow nu-gazers Nothing (who lean on the more abrasive edges of the genre), this seemed to come almost by accident. Indeed they share plenty of similarities; frontmen who’ve been through their own version of synthetic hell, a bleak back catalogue of sonics and their newfound roles as elder statesmen of a reasonably new but rapidly growing sub-scene.
When Nothing released their newest album early this year, they chose the admirable option to subvert expectation and lean into a fragmented exploration of new offshoots. In similar vein, DIIV use their fifth album to try something new, but this time they’ve finally given in to the alluring pressure of making a much anticipated pop-crossover record. Recruiting the services of the in demand A.G. Cook, the result is a less drastic departure from their signature grungy shoegaze than you might expect. The reality is that producers have evolved into the role of creative collaborators instead of simply audio technicians. And yeah, ‘genre’ is famously porous right now, meaning Daniel Lopatin (AKA Oneohtrix Point Never) can inject some avant-garde electronic influences into The Weeknd and Charli XCX and no one bats an eyelid. Nowadays, instead of working with a producer to capture the static familiarity of one genre, bands now can trust in their abilities to help seamlessly weave in eclectic sensibilities whilst ensuring they maintain their signature sonic identity.
Identity seems to make up an important part of DIIV’s ethos. Whilst their first three LP’s were driven by the music, they seemed to pivot around the release of Frog In Boiling Water and begin incorporating a highly distinctive immersive visual counterpart to the technologically anxious music which accompanied it. It went beyond simply slapping on a loose aesthetic; they instead built a fictional world which felt as real as it did unsettling. If you remember clicking into https://soul-net.co/ then you’ll recall the intentionally dated early internet vibe, pseudo-philosophy rhetoric and bizarre cryptic imagery, which would translate into their music videos, promotional content and eventually their live shows. This adoption of a multi-faceted approach to their own output perhaps nods to the same heightened permeability between genres in music – but in this case, the boundaries between art forms are intentionally blurred to create a vast, cinematic digital identity.
On Zirp!, they carry on from the previous focus on sterile corporate irreverence, developing the idea in a more literal sense by adopting the faux-businessmen visual identity; clad in bland grey suits and spouting nonsensical professional jargon. The assumption would be a direct satirising of the relentless forced positivity which corporations perpetuate as the world falls apart around us, something which is reflected in the music’s gloomier moments. When The Glow Came For Us propels apocalyptic visuals of martial law and burnt out cars, and The Crash is an equally prophetic lamentation of affairs, laden with heavy distortion and crashing drums. Cook’s clearest contributions on the production come on lead single The Fountain which is doused in hyperpop static and Dare Me, which deploys the same glitched out production he’s known for. Trillions, which is without doubt the most pop-oriented track of the record, leans into a straightforward structure and a tidal wave of Julian Casablancas style autotuned vocals – it’s fine, but not really their strong suit.
Zirp! is without doubt at its best when it doesn’t stray too far from their previous LP’s distinctive nu-gaze formula (as seen on Us Against You and Evangelizer). In their decision to side-step, pivot, realign (whatever you choose to define it as), one has to wonder whether it was especially necessary? The relentlessly creative world building that has carried on from their last outing maintains their status as a visually alluring whilst musically intoxicating group, so a reinvention felt less than imperative. Not staying static in a constantly evolving industry might be what sets them apart, but Zirp! serves as a timely reminder that identity is what defines us; and probably worth holding onto once we truly know ourselves.
