DIIV - Mire (Grant’s Song)

In an extensive post to fans, Cole from DIIV says new track ‘Mire (Grant’s Song)’ is vital, because “it makes more plain the darkness and heaviness that defines a bulk of the album.”

Surrounding second LP ‘Is The Is Are’ is a whole lot of context, whether that’s Cole’s experiences with drugs, his relationship with Sky Ferreira, or the racial online abuse bandmate Devin Ruben Perez is associated with. Some of it will be tough to explain, other aspects don’t need to be dug into, but this latest cut from the LP feels like DIIV’s most open-wounded moment so far.

“I was blind but now I see, you made a river out of me,” sings Cole with a more than personal touch, referencing his struggle with addiction. Traditionally sky-reaching guitar instead sink into a bottomless pit, and there are piercing, shrill screams - unmistakably from Cole himself - burning in the background. This is the sound of a frontman telling all, and it’s what’s been required from a group who went into hiding between records. Lead track ‘Dopamine’ remains a crystal-clear rush to the head. ‘Bent (Roi’s Song)’ furthered the idea that DIIV were more purposeful than on debut LP ‘Oshin’. But ‘Mire…’ feels like a watershed moment, a key point in Cole emerging from the brink with light at the end of the tunnel. Suddenly, ‘Is The Is Are’ looks like being one of 2016’s essential records.