It's been almost a year ago to the day since DIIV shared their latest studio album Frog In Boiling Water, but the band has endured a lot of life changes in that short time. In January, frontman Zachary Cole Smith’s house in Altadena was destroyed in the Los Angeles-area wildfires, as were all the baby supplies he and his wife had accrued for their two children. Today, DIIV have returned with their first new music since then, the emotional single "Return Of Youth." It comes with an accompanying music video filmed in the aftermath of Smith's destroyed neighborhood.
"Return Of Youth" is slow and contemplative, with Smith's narrator craving some blissful ignorance: "Guide me on a path that leads/ Innocent and dumb/ To a newfound naivety." He has a lot of insight about the track's backstory, writing in a press release:
hi
diiv has a new song out today, “return of youth”. sorry for the long statement
‘frog’ was an album that focused our gaze outward at the world around us. it captured a series of snapshots of our condition, in confusion and disgust and awe.
the writing period for this album was part of a beautiful time in my life, as we prepared and waited for our first child to be born. that beauty was cut with a profound existential dilemma: how can we bring a child into this world?
the common thread running through the fragmented world of the album was hope. we've talked about it a bit. real hope, false hope, something to give your life meaning. its an individual journey. i found it in parenthood, but you can find it anywhere you want.
"return of youth" was written before our son was born, a projection, zooming in until the larger existential dilemmas were out of frame. where "fender on the freeway" found peace in the patterns of a gigantic macro, this one finds it in a mundane and simple micro. i imagined seeing myself through the eyes of my child, a rebirth of sorts, laced with fear and insecurity, discovering beauty and serenity together in the simplest places.
at the very beginning of the year my family and i lost our home and everything we owned to the wildfires in altadena, ca. we had been preparing for the birth of our second son. we were living in the beautiful world at home that i had imagined in this song, and at once that world was gone.
when we re-approached this song to finally release it, i couldn't help but hear the song differently in the aftermath. what makes a home? can you ever escape the outside world? is hope just a delusion? is anyone actually prepared to be a parent? how CAN you bring a child into this world?
i found again the big questions were irrelevant. you just keep on living i guess. life happens on life's terms.
anyway, make of the song and the video whatever you want, it's just a snapshot, albeit a more personal one this time.
enjoy.
Cole
Watch the music video for "Return Of Youth" below.
