DIIV have performed a mesmerising cover of Pavement‘s ‘Cream Of Gold’ while appearing on SiriusXM.
The band – comprised of Andrew Bailey, Colin Caulfield, Ben Newman and Zachary Cole Smith – took on the 1999 track from Pavement’s fifth and final studio album ‘Twilight Terror’ while at the American broadcasting studios.
DIIV transformed the song into a mesmerising, gritty, haunting track with Smith’s soft and whisper-like vocal delivery with lines like: “Time tired you’re tainted through / Wins, songs and substitutes / I dream in beige, why’d you leave me so far now?” emphasise Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus’ description of the remnants of a toxic relationship.
DIIV’s most recent release was their fourth studio album ‘Frog In Boiling Water‘. In a three-star review of the LP, NME shared: “A quiet, undemanding and opaque album, ‘Frog In Boiling Water’ will appeal to a section of shoegaze fans that are keen to surrender to its impressionistic, seemingly-timeless charms. Others may ask themselves: why does it feel a bit like we’re living the same day over and over again?”
Opening up to NME about why recording the album was particularly tough, Caufield shared: “It’s particularly funny to answer this question with you, because last time we did an interview with NME, I remember it being so positive, like, ‘We’re doing the best we’ve ever done.’ And it was true at the time, it felt like this rebirth for the band.”
He continued: “There was so much optimism and hope and with this one, I think we went into it with these really big ambitions to try to make a different kind of album and really stretch and push ourselves to make something new. And I think we just did not anticipate that it would be a really, really big challenge to agree with those new guidelines, or that kind of exploded approach to the band. We were still, in a certain way, in that mode of, ‘Everything’s good,’ and then that’s when things really sneak up. You’re not expecting it. And then resentments build…”
Smith went on to add: “Relationships take work and some vigilance. We left making ‘Deceiver’ saying, ‘Let’s do that again!’ And maybe we would have, but being in a band is tough. I think for a lot of people the music just shows up on their phone, and they’re, like, ‘Cool,’ and they’ll listen.
“But there’s not a tonne of transparency about all that goes into making the sausage, there are so many decisions and so much money and time… It’s daunting. You make it on spec, like, ‘I hope people like this,’ and you kind of put all your eggs in that basket. I believe in the record and we all believed in it.”
In other news, DIIV are set to serve as opening support for Fontaines D.C.’s shows in Lonodon’s Alexandra Palace as part of the latter’s UK and Ireland leg of their ‘Romance’ tour.
