DIIV – Frog in Boiling Water Review

Settle into this boiling water. Scooch the frogs along. DIIV has a dream pop powerhouse on their hands; getting to grips with it takes dedication. Throw yourself into the burning embrace, again and again. Stripped back and gothic in its immediate moments, Frog in Boiling Water is a darker shoegaze piece with a collection of grunge-like flourishes. Heavy on its percussion, bass strings will rattle your heart and challenge your brain. DIIV is on it and the effect is a clanking, boisterous experience. Confident as it is, it feels out of place as a shoegaze piece. Frog in Boiling Water is a confident and swaggering piece of work but hides behind those gritty guitar pieces. It marks a stellar way to get into the genre. Sharp work from a band with plenty to offer after a decade of plugging away. 

Their lush tones from In Amber open well and present a shoegaze classic. Whispered vocals and torn-through everyday experiences make up the best moments of this DIIV release. Its bass work and the trialling, emotionally charged sections of Brown Paper Bag are exceptional. It is the bright spark to keep alight during times of dark and muddled experiences, which is the main fixture of Frog in Boiling Water. It is not without its charms but to get to those, the brief respite we can afford, we must push through some challenging material, some bold and open insights into the DIIV minds. You can get a sense of yourself from its title track and much of this album serves as a reminder to be prepared for an in-the-moment change. Plan the day all you like but the suddenness and urgency of a few sharp acoustic notes on Everyone Out is a demonstration of impromptu momentum.  

Flickers of dark rock certainly help DIIV get their shoegaze abilities over the line. Subtle flickers of electric energies can be heard, buried under the fundamentals of their main genre focus but still there, effectively bringing to life what so many bands are still trying to get their heads around. It means the likes of Somber the Drums and Little Birds hit harder yet keep the soft intimacies which feel so fragile when in the right hands. It is easy to lose yourself in Frog in Boiling Water, that is the quality of their instrumentals, and it suits well for those darker autumn days. An incredible balance is kept – the slow-burning optimism always lagging behind the production of turmoil, the feeling everything is about to fall apart. Shoegaze at its finest helps lift these moments.  

Their sound and the bass that drives them are enriching and powerful. DIIV has not stirred up a reimagining of the genre but has found scope for new material in an already played-out experience. Therein lies the great joy of Frog in Boiling Water, this chance to leap from familiar tones and sounds is a welcome one, especially when their shoegaze and almost alternate rock at times is filled with a heart-filled message. Soul-net is key to this – a sharp and inspired piece of late-stage album work which puts those fears heard earlier in the album aside to make the rebellious note of living with it and moving on. DIIV hopes to help those who need to move on too, and their challenging works are a bolt of impressive instrumental joys and honest lyrical qualities.