Music Spotlight: DIIV

Music Spotlight is a section where writers can promote their own music taste, and open up our ears to the wonders of their personal playlist. This week we have Lydia Rugg writing on DIIV…

Originally named Dive after the Nirvana song, this Brooklyn band soon learned it was too common of a band name, hence, changed it to DIIV, (pronounced the same). Consisting of five close friends, the band is headed by lead singer, Zachary Cole Smith who has a hauntingly captivating presence in the band, which is visible in both interviews and the music. After big success with their 2012 self-produced album, Oshin, they went on to make Is The Is Are four years later.

The sounds of this band are an eclectic mix of gentle ambiance and heavy, angst rock. The new album discusses many topical concerns of Smith’s, including drug addiction, which was the cause of on of many distressing events to take place in the bands gestation period, between albums. Smith and his girlfriend at the time, supermodel and musician, Sky Ferreira were pulled over in their car, in which both heroine and ecstasy were found. Ferreira was temporarily shunned from the modelling world before rumours were cleared up and the fashion world accepted her again. Smith had to go to rehab and claimed that he had to make a good album which would inevitably ‘save him’.

The song,  , the first single off the new album explicitly details Smith’s experiences on drugs and claims that he ‘[wants] it to be a cautionary tale’. Similarities have been drawn between the self-destructive style of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love to Smith and girlfriend (Sky Ferreira), despite this, there is a lot more to the sonic capabilities and influence the band has already had on the alternative indie music scene.

The song,   relies heavily on Smith singing variations on themes surrounding the title, with collective ad libs throughout, accompanied by an arrangement of various glowing guitar hooks and a steady pop drum beat. The track creates a feeling, gained from the precise lack of lyrics and a careful study of sonic power. In this sense, the comparisons to Nirvana lead man, Cobain are evident, in the self-aware study of self and worldly matters along with a heightened awareness of the persuasiveness of guitar music.

The band will be touring the new album in the U.K and I think it’s important to see this band live,(live performance is a real test of musicianship). The new album promises an excellent revival vibe, which will indefinitely make for a positive, introspective live experience. With shows in Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, Leeds, Liverpool and other venue locations around the U.K, I would definitely recommend picking up a ticket and experiencing one of the forerunners of guitar music, influential to up keeping the genre whilst paying homage to tradition.