Lorelei

DIIV: Deceiver

The first time Zachary Cole Smith tried to make an album about getting sober, the DIIV frontman wasn’t ready to be honest—with fans, with the people around him, or even with himself. A year after releasing 2016’s beloved Is the Is Are, Smith re-entered treatment for heroin addiction. A stretch of radio silence followed, before more and more tour dates gave way to this summer’s announcement of Deceiver. Recorded with producer Sonny Diperri, who previously engineered for My Bloody Valentine, DIIV’s third album draws deeply on the gossamer textures and double-tracked vocals that define shoegaze. Gone is the surface-level catchiness that drew listeners into the first two DIIV LPs, replaced by intricate songwriting that reveals itself further with each listen. With Deceiver, DIIV seek to reinvent themselves for themselves, and nobody else. –Noah Yoo