DIIV ZIRP!

Critic's Take

DIIV are back with more infectious shoegaze on their fifth album ZIRP!. The best tracks on ZIRP! include “The Fountain”, which wastes no time, and “Dare Me”, where the droning guitars are inescapable across the track’s length. A.G. Cook comes into his own on “Trillions”, with an upbeat feel and autotuned vocals that provide a refreshing break from the album’s more typical DIIV numbers. “My Star” lands with impact, its soft-spoken, at times haunting vocal delivery beautifully complemented by loud screeching guitars. “Idiot In The Sky” ends the album as strongly as it began, leaving the lingering impression that DIIV can switch it up while remaining true to themselves.

Key Points

• “Idiot In The Sky” is a strong closer, leaving a lingering impression of DIIV's ability to experiment while remaining true to themselves.
• The album's core strengths are infectious shoegaze, distorted guitars, and refreshing variation on “Trillions.”

Themes

Critic's Take

DIIV tackle our torturous reality with all of their teeth on ZIRP!, with the best songs finding new ways to dig through the rubble. “Evangelizer” blows the whole thing up with an almighty guitar riff, while “The Fountain” longs to tear it up and start again. The feedback freckles of “Dare Me” and the salvaged sonic rubble of “When The Glow Came For Us” show AG Cook’s sheeny digital spatter at work. Better in its final run-up, the album gathers momentum on the tenebrous, shuffling “Underground”, even as its audacious genre play sometimes shoots too far and falls flat.

Key Points

• “Evangelizer” is the standout, its pithy lyric giving way to an almighty guitar riff that blows the song up.
• The album’s core strengths are its adventurous genre play, indelible guitars, and restless production, even when the experiments fall flat.

Themes

Critic's Take

DIIV lean into hooks and melody more than ever before on ZIRP!, and the best tracks on the album are pacy, playful and put Zachary Cole Smith’s vocals front and centre. “The Fountain” and “Dare Me” show A.G. Cook preserving the essence of what makes DIIV one of the best live bands of their generation. There is new ground broken on the groove-driven “Underground” and breezy “My Star”, while the incendiary “Us Against You” carries the record’s political fury. Ambitious, unflinching and, ultimately, optimistic, ZIRP! is thrilling proof that DIIV can make their biggest sonic shift while writing their most avowedly political record.

Key Points

• “The Fountain” and “Dare Me” stand out for their pacy, playful hooks and melodies, with Smith’s vocals front and centre.
• The album’s core strengths are its political fury, renewed sonic ambition, and optimism rooted in community and togetherness.

Themes

Critic's Take

DIIV have endured because of their refusal to capitulate, and the best songs on ZIRP! find them sounding like no one but DIIV. The searing table-setter “The Fountain” is festooned with processed static and firework-synth curlicues, while “Trillions” turns a deceptively starry-eyed meditation on consumerism into the record’s most straightforwardly pop moment. “My Star” wistfully reflects on parenthood, and “Dare Me” bristles with dive-bombing riffs and gleaming glitchwork. These are the best tracks on ZIRP!, even as a slight tilt towards anonymity suggests that DIIV’s efforts toward reinvention are an unintentional testament to the virtues of being yourself.

Key Points

• “Trillions” stands out as the album’s most straightforwardly pop moment, pairing an airy performance with a deceptively starry-eyed meditation on consumerism.
• The album’s strengths are its familiar melodic guitar noise, welcome stylistic shifts, and moments of levity amid its doomy visions.

Themes

Critic's Take

DIIV have always tied their ambitious guitar voyages to a mast of great songwriting, and the best songs on ZIRP! find that mast still holding. “Kid” is a stellar synthesis of Cook’s intricate, glossy architecture with DIIV’s dream-pop, where ones and zeroes meet organic tissue to form a multifaceted anthem. “When The Glow Came For Us” almost works as an extension of that, with more commentary pushed to the front. But the partnership with A.G. Cook is still not wholly convincing: “The Fountain” rockets with tension, only for its clipped guitar distortion to neuter the thrill. DIIV’s colossal shoegaze may have made them grow a little leaden, but ZIRP! is an overcorrection.

Key Points

• “Kid” is the best song because its glossy electronic architecture and DIIV’s dream-pop form a multifaceted anthem.
• The album’s strongest moments find breathing room in minimalism, but its pop turn can overcorrect and lose what made DIIV distinctive.

Themes

Critic's Take

DIIV have never slapped as hard as they do on “The Fountain,” where grunge riffs give way to squealing shoegaze melodies and waves of noise. The best songs on ZIRP! make room for domestic life and American decline alike: “Kid” is a gentle, pretty lullaby, while “Us Against You” holds up class solidarity as our only hope. “Trillions” is a genuinely excellent work of songcraft, its pop parody doubling as a clear-eyed joke about getting filthy rich. Hooks abound, crisp and clean even as they maintain the surreal wonkiness of shoegaze. For best tracks on ZIRP!, the propulsive “Evangelizer” and graceful “Us Against You” make the case for DIIV’s thrilling melodic rock music.

Key Points

• “The Fountain” is the hardest-hitting song here, turning grunge riffs and shoegaze noise into a striking opener.
• “Us Against You” and “Kid” make the album’s social critique feel personal, pairing class solidarity with an intimate look at parenthood.

Themes

Critic's Take

DIIV makes a bold swing on ZIRP!, though perhaps not the one the band needed. The best tracks on ZIRP! are those where its heavy-handed approach turns bluntly effective: “The Crash” roars like a lawnmower, while “My Star” and “The Fountain” make the guitars combative and urgent. “Evangelizer” offers a more nuanced moment, implicating its singer in the inaction he indicts. Elsewhere, “Kid” builds a lovely little ecosystem, but the same one-note whine keeps its cheekiness and thoughtfulness at a distance.

Key Points

• “The Crash” is the strongest track discussed, with guitars that roar like a lawnmower and sentiments that capture societal collapse.
• The album's most effective moments pair urgent, combative guitars with political frustration, even as its bluntness and one-note vocals often limit its emotional force.

Themes