Joining us in the studio for this Indie Rock Hit Parade session is a group whose new album offers a glimpse into a techno-topia that’s perhaps a little too familiar. The New York quartet DIIV have been crafting shoegaze-inspired anthems for over a decade. Led by guitarist Zachary Cole Smith, the group’s harmony-packed compositions often belie grim and cautionary lyrics. That’s especially true of their newest album, Frog in Boiling Water. Released earlier this year, the album is an allegorical peek into a society overrun by capitalistic technology whose moral boundaries are a little… dubious. As heard in these live performances, the band (guitarist Andrew Bailey, bassist Colin Caulfield, and drummer Ben Newman) augment the songs with text-to-speech generated monologues that recall Westworld or Loki‘s Miss Minutes. Once you log on to “Soul-net,” you might never be able (or allowed) to log off.
Dire as the subject matter might be, DIIV’s in-studio session is a joy to watch. The band is locked in from the jump, giving each song a forward momentum while still allowing for atmospheric space.