DIIV - Dopamine

For a band that seems to be either navigating or stirring up a shit storm at any given moment, DIIV have a right knack for creating serenity when Zach Cole Smith puts his ideas down on record. It’s been over three years since debut LP ‘Oshin’ hit the shelves, so it’s with great collective relief that the music can once again be the point of attention when it comes to talking about this band.

‘Dopamine’ starts working its magic from the get go, with the kind of immediacy that you’d expect from a DIIV track; subtle, shimmering melodies glowing as they intertwine around one another. It’s a track that just keeps growing, creating what feels like its own magnetic field as it unravels, before the neurotransmitters lock in to overdrive for the track’s final minute. It has everything you know and love, but there’s more nous on show here. With the track given more time to breathe, its bigger moments overrun the senses like never before. What’s more, Smith sounds as comfortable as he ever has in a vocal booth, laid-back as he sings “I got so high, I finally felt like myself”. It lays the foundations for a record that promises to say much much more than previous works. Still no idea what the hell forthcoming new album ‘Is The Is Are’ might be all about, but ‘Dopamine’ will make you all the more the desperate to find out.