DIIV - Oshin

(Captured Tracks)

The thimble-deep musical gene pool at hipper-than-thou Brooklyn indie label Captured Tracks overfloweth not with the arrival of the debut album by DIIV (formerly Dive), the latest soundalike gang of scruffy young New Yorkers making a wan, dreamy, melancholic, reverb-doused racket second-hand reminiscent of The Wake and The Telescopes and other Factory and Creation Records-centric mid-to-late 80s guitar bands. Individuality isn’t their selling point, then, though DIIV’s indelible way with a groove and a melody could be.

Fulcrum Zachary Cole Smith, also a touring member of labelmates Beach Fossils (the connection is clear, the two sound almost identical), varies his songwriting at least a bit with the odd dark, driving Krautrocky instrumental à la ‘(Druun Pt. II)’. The blurry, chiming standard fare of ‘Past Lives’ and ‘Sometime’ won’t change your life, but it might capture the odd moment quite beautifully.