DIIV

Blending the ethereal textures of shoegaze with the visceral release of grunge, DIIV confronts intimate anguish and societal inequities in balanced measure. On the 2012 debut Oshin, singer/songwriter/guitarist Zachary Cole Smith made audible the impact of Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, and Malian music alike. The group's palette grew more expansive and unguarded across the candid disclosures of 2016's Is the Is Are and the denser probes of trauma and addiction that defined 2019's Deceiver, an album later regarded as a touchstone for 2020s shoegaze. That standing was reinforced by the measured, hypnotic meditations on contemporary conditions found throughout 2024's Frog in Boiling Water.

Smith, born in New York and raised in Connecticut, picked up guitar in childhood and played in several school ensembles, one of which included future DIIV guitarist Andrew Bailey. After stints on guitar with psych-rock outfit Soft Black and on drums for Beach Fossils, he launched DIIV in 2011 to house his own material, folding in elements of Krautrock, C-86, and Malian guitarists alongside the more anticipated precedents of My Bloody Valentine and Nirvana. Bailey, bassist Devin Ruben Perez, and former Smith Westerns drummer Colby Hewitt completed the initial live lineup. Originally named Dive, Smith altered the spelling upon discovering the early-'90s Belgian industrial band that already used it. The group joined Captured Tracks in October 2011, issuing the solo-recorded demo singles Sometime, Human, and Geist ahead of the June 2012 release of Oshin, which reached number five on the U.S. Heatseekers Albums Chart and appeared on the U.K. Record Store Albums Chart. Later that year DIIV toured with the Vaccines and Japandroids before adding multi-instrumentalist Colin Caulfield as touring keyboardist and guitarist.

Smith's struggles with substance abuse intensified in 2013. A planned session with former Girls bassist/producer Chet "JR" White was abandoned, and Smith was arrested on drug charges en route to a September show in Hudson, New York. Following the possession charge, he entered rehab in January 2014. During recovery he accumulated more than 150 songs for the next album; recording began at Brooklyn's Strange Weather studio in March 2015, shortly after Hewitt's departure. Touring drummer Ben Newman handled most of the drum parts. The resulting ambitious double album Is the Is Are arrived in February 2016, presenting a more refined DIIV and debuting at number 81 on Billboard's 200 Albums Chart.

Subsequent years brought further shifts. Smith returned to rehab for extended inpatient care in early 2017, during which the band released a single pairing covers of Sparklehorse's "Cow" and (Sandy) Alex G's "Icehead." Ruben Perez exited in December 2017 after earlier controversy over racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic online posts, with Caulfield assuming bass duties. DIIV entered the studio with producer Sonny DiPerri in March 2019, pursuing a more collective writing process and drawing on heavier touchstones such as True Widow and Unwound. The resulting Deceiver, issued in October 2019, offered a deeper look at the personal and political undercurrents of addiction and reached number six on the U.S. Independent Albums Chart and number 17 on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart.

Pandemic restrictions delayed the planned follow-up sessions, prompting members to record independently. Smith co-founded United Musicians and Allied Workers to advocate for a fairer music industry. In early 2022 the band resumed serious work on a fourth album, enlisting producer Chris Coady and maintaining an egalitarian approach. May 2024's Frog in Boiling Water folded breakbeats and field recordings into its hypnotic tracks to evoke the gradual onset of societal collapse.