For my day job, I work for a company that's headquartered in a country where people actually get time off every year. As a result of this, I have more vacation time than CoolMom. I took some of that extra time for this holiday week, and, so far, it's been a great solo staycation. CoolDaughters 1 & 2 go to camp every day and don't get home until close to five o'clock, so I'm as on my own as I've been in a long time for much of the day.
It's made me a little lax on the blogging. I resolved, therefore, this evening to sit down and finally put down some thoughts on the debut album from Brooklyn-based DIIV, Oshin.
A big part of being plugged into the mindiesphere as a cooldad is an aversion to hype. A good deal of it preceded the release of Oshin. In advance of the album's release, Pitchfork premiered the tracks "How Long Have You Known?" and "Doused," bestowing Best New Track tags on both. The band went through a name change, from Dive to DIIV. And much has been made of frontman Zachary Cole Smith's association with Beach Fossils. All of this should have made me very suspicious of the DIIV project. I even read several reviews that seemed to knock the band as much for being another mindie darling from Brooklyn as for anything having to do with the music.
Well, today I sat down and listened to the album. Oshin, simply, is a collection of sounds that I love. Layered guitars, vocals that are difficult to pick out from the rest of the mix, and lots of reverb. Instrumental album opener "(Druun)" lets you know right away what to expect from the album: guitar sounds favoring notes over chords and then a bit of a hook, all drenched in reverb. "Past Lives," "How Long Have You Known?" "Follow," and beautiful album closer "Home" are reminiscent of Real Estate. There is a bit more darkness or shoegaziness to the sound, though. "Doused" is the album standout, and the guitars ride on top of the rhythm section like Interpol, circa 2002, though without the sometimes ridiculous Interpol lyrics.
The band mentioned the importance of their lyrics via a tweet last week, so I held the lyric sheet and followed along as I listened this evening. None of the songs on Oshin has very many lyrics, but the album isn't all just about the wall of sound. The record opens with Smith singing, "I was your home..." and ends with "You'll never have a home until you go home." What goes on in between isn't always easy to decipher, but I get the sense that it deals with the simple story of people growing apart. I've said before that I don't like to delve too deeply into lyrical content in these reviews, but I will say that there is a definite thematic unity to Oshin that will reward people who pay attention to more than just the sound.
Just sitting back, listening, and letting Oshin carry you on that sound, though, is pretty cool, too. I plan on doing just that as I spend another morning relaxing on the beach tomorrow.
Oh, and it's good to be suspicious of hype. Just know that some bands really deserve it.
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