Although the oneiric Is the Is Are was certainly not without its numerous merits, it’s both a pleasure and a privilege to hear Zachary Cole Smith & Co. returning with so direct a single as Skin Game. A first to surface from DIIV’s forthcoming third full-length, Deceiver, it harks back to those most insistent listens entangled in their roily début Oshin (and further beyond, to gauzy highlights of the Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Teenage Fanclub, and the like), and makes for a very positive juxtaposition to Smith’s well-documentedly tempestuous previous. Compelling, and delivered with a buoying newfound conviction.
Deceiver is available from October 4th via Captured Tracks.