Album Review: DIIV - Oshin

Brooklyn band DIIV seemed to come out of nowhere, and in many ways they did. The outfit for Beach Fossils' guitarist Zachary Cole Smith, DIIV have lived most their life as Dive, before changing their name in time to release Oshin (pronounced “ocean”) on lightning-in-a-bottle indie label Captured Tracks. Yet it pays to look past the connections and quirky spellings and focus on what is essentially the perfect marriage of shoegaze, woozy pop and kosmische, with Blank Dogs as the celebrant.

Kicking off with the languid splendour of instrumental (Druun), the four-piece's intentions are clear from the outset. The shimmering beauty of Past Lives and Air Conditioning coalesces into the types of diamond-hard pastoral pop gems that contemporaries Deerhunter and Real Estate usually chisel out. But Oshin isn't a true member of dream-pop, as the propulsive motorik leanings on Human, (Druun Pt 2) and indeed Past Lives infuses the tracks with an urgent groove often discarded. Moreover Oshin doesn't embrace this element wholeheartedly either – many of these urgent jams could have been stretched to twice their running time. Sometimes these deliberate omissions are missteps – embracing the psychedelia or gauzy pop gem could have strengthened the album – but DIIV seem intent to play alchemic games with their chosen craft, and kudos to them for that, especially when the fuzzy exuberance of Wait rolls around.

Oshin is an atmospheric ride that's neither light nor dark – a bit like seeing the sun pierce tree canopies through your eyelids. Cole Smith has struck on some great ideas here, and with some time and more tinkering in the sonic laboratory, he might concoct something truly extraordinary.