After more than three years, DIIV have finally returned. We haven’t heard new original music from the Brooklyn indie rock band since their 2016 sophomore full-length, Is The Is Are. The interim has been dotted with some occasional interviews and a lot of covers, with the group taking on songs by Elliott Smith and Cat Power and Sparklehorse and (Sandy) Alex G and My Bloody Valentine. And project mastermind Zachary Cole Smith went to rehab for drug addiction back in 2017. Later that year, DIIV also parted ways with bassist Devin Ruben Perez after earlier controversy arose from the revelation that Perez had posted anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, and sexist comments on 4chan.

After a few days of teasing, today the group is finally announcing their third album, Deceiver. It was produced by Sonny Diperri, who’s worked with acts like My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, and Protomartyr. We’re also getting the lead single, “Skin Game,” a track that starts breezy and shoegaze-y and eventually trails off into electrifying guitar distortion.

Zachary Cole Smith talks about “Skin Game,” describing it as a song about addiction and recovery, in a statement:

It’s an imaginary dialogue between two characters, which could either be myself or people I know. I spent six months in several different rehab facilities at the beginning of 2017. 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.

Listen and check out DIIV’s new tour dates below.

TRACKLIST
01 “Horsehead”
02 “Like Before You Were Born”
03 “Skin Game”
04 “Between Tides”
05 “Taker”
06 “For the Guilty”
07 “The Spark”
08 “Lorelei”
09 “Blankenship”
10 “Acheron”

TOUR DATES
10/11 – Perris, CA @ Desert Daze Festival
10/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
10/14 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10/15 – Houston, TX @ Satellite
10/16 – Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall
10/18 – Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
10/19 – Detroit, MI @ Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
10/20 – Cleveland, OH @ Phantasy
10/22 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
10/23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
10/24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
10/27 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
12/05 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
12/06 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Guild Hall
12/07 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst
12/08 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
12/10 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
12/11 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
12/13 – Sonoma, CA @ Sonoma Redwood Barn

Deceiver is out 10/4 via Captured Tracks. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Coley Brown