The first indication that DIIV were moving into more political territory came as they rolled out their last record, 2024’s ‘Frog In Boiling Water’ . The album’s release was marked by a hoax appearance on Saturday Night Live where they were introduced by Fred Durst, a chaotic website replete with conspiracy theories, and a live show punctuated by spoof announcements suggesting that the band had entered into a “creative partnership” with ExxonMobil. It was a tongue-in-cheek campaign that concealed broiling anti-capitalist anger beneath the surface, and that offset the murky, lyrically opaque set of songs they were promoting.

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The Los Angeles four-piece have carried this approach into their fifth album, ‘ZIRP!’, which refracts the dystopian state of modern America through the prism of their lightest, poppiest record to date. A.G.…