DIIV : Frog In Boiling Water

DIIV have established themselves as one of the premier indie rock bands of the 2010s, combining dream pop, shoegaze, and noise rock into a sublime guitar squall. 2012s Oshin established guitarist and band leader Zachary Cole Smith as a prominent voice in the indie rock community and a purveyor of shoegaze, much like contemporaries Nothing, Whirr and Beach Fossils. With 2016s Is The Is Are Smith and DIIV swung for the fences with a sprawling hour-plus opus that fell short due to drug addiction and in-band controversy. 2019s Deceiver was darker, heavier, and more focused and saw Smith dealing with past dark times head on.

We now have Frog In Boiling Water, the band’s most concise and engaged album since their debut. Guitar-heavy with moments of My Bloody Valentine guitar noise, as well as poppier, melodic moments that sees DIIV as introspective and engaging as they’ve ever been.

Frog In Boiling Water has a darkness to it. Like Zachary Cole Smith is looking in a crystal ball and seeing what his fate could have been had he not cleaned up his act. Deceiver was still seeped in personal pain, which explains the dire and dark mood. It’s been close to 10 years since Is The Is Are and its trouble with drugs, the law, and past relationships(see Sky Ferreira), so the darkness is in the rearview but still reachable. Frog In Boiling Water is tapping into the world, but from the perspective of someone a distance from the immediate pain.

“In Amber” opens the album in wavering guitar and a slow motion rhythm. Guitar squall intermingles with melodic intent. It’s like shoegaze and slowcore coming together in a transcendent wall of noise. “Brown Paper Bag” has an almost Siamese Dream feel, as if Elliot Smith fronted the Pumpkins for a minute. There’s very few artists these days making the guitar as evocative and urgent-sounding as DIIV. Title track “Frog In Boiling Water” brings to mind if grunge and dream pop had been melded together. Very much like what Deafheaven did with black metal and shoegaze. It’s a big, dramatic, and ethereal sound.

Elsewhere “Everyone Out” locks into Elliot Smith territory, bringing to mind Roman Candle, but with more emphasis on mood and feeling and less on singer/songwriter fare. “Little Birds” hangs in a melancholy mood with MBV-guitar touches. One of the many highlights on an album filled with many is the haunting “Soul-net”, a song that hangs in an urgency and contemplative, thoughtful headspace. It’s simply stunning.

Frog In Boiling Water is one of the best guitar-centric albums of the year so far, as well as one of the best indie rock albums of 2024. DIIV continue to push their songwriting into new territory. If you don’t think there aren’t good guitar albums anymore, you’re just not listening.