DITZ - The Great Regression

DITZ could have become a better-than-average jangly indie band if they wanted – at least, that’s what the joyfully bright guitar introducing opening track ‘Clocks’ seems to want you to believe. Yet just as you get comfortable, a low, doomy death knell of a riff sounds out of nowhere, pleasantly disorientating, and everything suddenly becomes way, way more exciting. Then again, it’s hardly reasonable to expect mediocrity from a breakout band who dare to close their debut album with a seven-and-a-half-minute song, the darkly simmering post-punk opus ‘No Thanks I’m Full’, that passes by in what feels like half the time. Indeed, ‘The Great Regression’’s bravest moments reap the most rewards, and coincidentally, it’s where their identity feels strongest. ‘Ded Wurst’ is a greebo’s dancefloor dream, where jagged synths glitter between bursts of disgustingly deep guitar, while ‘Hehe’ delivers a mighty finishing move with a sludgy, weighty outro. There’s still a little greenness here and there – the Royal Blood-esque ‘Summer Of The Shark’ lacks a little individuality, for example – but in the position that DITZ have put themselves in, there are a lot of places for them to push the boat.