Hear Brooklyn Rockers DIIV Preview First Album in Three Years With ‘Skin Game’

Brooklyn indie rock outfit DIIV unveiled a rumbling new song, “Skin Game,” the first offering from their upcoming album Deceiver.

“Skin Game” finds DIIV putting a heavier spin on the familiar shoegaze-y whirl of their earlier recordings, as meandering guitar lines shimmer then expand into a deafening crunch. In a statement, frontman Zachary Cole Smith described the song as “an imaginary dialogue between two characters, which could either be myself or people I know.” He added that the song was partly inspired by his recent stints in rehab facilities and the experience of coming to grips with addiction and recovery.

“I spent six months in several different rehab facilities at the beginning of 2017,” Smith said. “I was living with other addicts. Being a recovering addict myself, there are a lot of questions like, ‘Who are we? What is this disease?’ Our last record was about recovery in general, but I truthfully didn’t buy in. I decided to live in my disease instead. ‘Skin Game’ looks at where the pain comes from. I’m looking at the personal, physical, emotional, and broader political experiences feeding into the cycle of addiction for millions of us.”

Deceiver, out October 4th via Captured Tracks, marks DIIV’s third album and follows their 2016 offering Is the Is Are, as well as their 2012 debut, Oshin. The band recorded the new record in Los Angeles this March, working with an outside producer for the first time in Sonny Diperri, who has previously worked on albums by My Bloody Valentine and Nine Inch Nails.

DIIV will embark on a North American tour in support of Deceiver October 11th with a set at the Desert Daze Festival in Perris, California. The first leg wraps October 27th at the Black Cat in Washington D.C., but December 5th the band will kick off a West Coast run at Belly Up Tavern in San Diego, California.

Deceiver Track List

1. “Horsehead”
2. “Like Before You Were Born”
3. “Skin Game”
4. “Between Tides”
5. “Taker”
6. “For the Guilty”
7. “The Spark”
8. “Lorelai”
9. “Blankenship”
10. “Acheron”