DIIV
Frog In Boiling Water
***and1/2 out of *****
The newest album from DIIV, the band's fourth studio effort, Frog In Boiling Water is their most self assured yet as the Brooklyn band delivers a restrained, low-key, alt-rock/shoegaze album.
The quartet of Zachary Cole Smith, Andrew Bailey, Colin Caulfield, and Ben Newman reach back to the mid 90's for inspiration as the band play with feedback, breathy understated vocals that drift into the background and slower tempos that never explode.
From the opening number "In Amber" the floating, dreamy, swirling sounds instantly call to mind the biggest influence on the band this go around, Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins. DIIV relish in the early Billy Corgan sound as that albums vibe is directly injected into Frog In Boiling Water. The vibrating "Brown Paper Bag" hums along while "Reflected" and the exploring title track all swim in these same alt-rock waters, a touch trippy, a touch fuzzed out and always with a yearning/searching glow.
The band coalesces around a few offerings that stand out. The shimmering, slow marching "Rain On Your Pillow" uses a bright chorus while "Everyone Out" deploys layers of string work from acoustic to electric with pristine delicate touches. The swirling cosmic rays blast through as supped up drumming propels "Somber the Drums" into outer space.
The group wraps up the album strongly as the lightly revving around chimes and samples/tape loops of "Little Birds" flows into the lightly grooving roller coaster of "Soul-net" before wrapping the whole record up with the nuanced ending of "Fender on the Freeway".
The retro rocking shoegazers aren't breaking any new ground with Frog In Boiling Water but the easy flowing effort is welcomed in a pop music world where these sounds seem rarer and rarer.
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