ALBUM REVIEW: DIIV – Deceiver

Captured Tracks

Released: 04.10.19

DIIV’s earliest material showcased a pulsating, dark indie sound that induced frenzy in their audiences. Comparatively, their third album, Deceiver, captures a more introspective, starker mood, with the help of producer Sonny Diperri (MBV, NIN, Protomartyr).

Lead single Taker strikes a melancholic tone, as Zachary Cole Smith’s lyrical incantations climax in a fuzz-soaked fever-dream. On Skin Game, a brooding track recalling Sonic Youth, Smith’s rhetorical incantations speak of the trauma of addiction: “I can’t live like this anymore”. Occasionally however, the album lacks dynamics, suggesting endless waves of interweaving guitar noise have, at times, the power to paralyse. Shot through with moments of sublimity and a tentative optimism, Deceiver embraces the shadows and waits for the first light of dawn.