DIIV – Frog In Boiling Water – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Any fears of DIIV disappearing into a haze of conspiracy theories and self-indulgence based on their web/social media presence haven’t translated into their music.  Their fourth album sounds like the natural follow-up to 2019’s Deceiver.  It delivers right from the opening notes of opener In Amber.  The guitars have just the ‘right’ fuzzy tones and the songs are slack and melodic with none of them outstaying their welcome, only the final track Fender On The Freeway breaking the five-minute barrier.

Brown Paper Bag sounds almost perfect, all slow fuzziness, throwing in a nod to MBV’s Loveless towards the end (you won’t miss it!).  The title track has absolutely glorious guitar work, and a melody so perfectly ****gaze you won’t need to hear anything else.  Little Birds plods along beautifully with blissed-out vocals and fuzzed-out guitars.  The guitar crunch is turned down for the chilled-out Everyone Out and the trebly, guitar-drenched Soul-net.

The one thing this album is not is a grower.  The 10 tracks are all fairly instant.  They all hit hard and on another album, each one would probably be a standout.  Here it melds into a continuous whole, and nothing really stands out.  However, the consistent sound makes for a very enjoyable album.

Brown Paper Bag: