REVIEW

DIIV’s fourth album finds the New York shoegaze band once again steeped in a damp, shadowy atmosphere. It’s their first release in five years, following the heavier turn of Deceiver, and while the sheer wall-of-noise impact has been dialed back, the mood is unmistakably dark and sodden.

Compared to the shimmering glow of their debut Oshin, this feels less like a sunlit resort beach and more like a move straight into a humid tropical rainforest. The sound clings to you. Some listeners may find it subdued or even uneventful compared to the previous album, but the slow-burn, rain-soaked melancholia is precisely what makes it rewarding—especially when you’re in the mood to sink into something quietly consuming. Personally, I find it even more compelling than Deceiver.

Standout tracks include #3 “Rainning On Your Pillow,” #4 “Frog In Boiling Water,” and #7 “Somber The Drums,” though the album remains consistently immersive throughout.

The title Frog In Boiling Water draws on a parable referenced in Daniel Quinn’s The Story of B: throw a frog into boiling water and it will desperately try to escape, but place it in cool water and slowly raise the temperature, and it won’t notice until it’s too late. It’s a fitting metaphor for a world where widening inequality is shrugged off as inevitable, online outrage spreads without regard for truth, and people surrender themselves to algorithm-driven pleasures without resistance. Drift along without a sense of urgency, and you may find yourself quietly boiling in a dystopia of your own making.

Rather than ending up as that frog, one can’t help but admire the impulse to point a gun at the world and say, “Are you really satisfied with this? Because I’m not.”