Eleven years later, DIIV come back to Cat's Cradle

The Brooklyn band's last Carrboro show was November 5, 2015. On April 21, it returns with ZIRP!, a new album made with A. G. Cook.

Eleven years ago today — November 5, 2015 — DIIV played Cat's Cradle. A lot of bands have come through Carrboro since. DIIV has not been one of them. That ends next spring.

DIIV play Cat's Cradle in Carrboro on Wednesday, April 21, 2027, at 8pm. The show was announced on October 28, and tickets are on sale through eTix. The Cradle holds about 750.

The timing is not an accident. Six days ago, on October 30, DIIV released *ZIRP!*, the band's fifth album, through Fantasy Recordings. It was produced by A. G. Cook, as Stereogum, Consequence and Clash reported when the album was announced in August. It follows *Frog in Boiling Water*, the 2024 album the band toured across North America that summer, per BrooklynVegan.

That producer credit is the story. Cook is best known as a pop producer, and pairing him with a band built on hazy, guitar-heavy rock was always going to raise eyebrows. The singles made the case one at a time: "The Fountain" led the way, as Consequence and The Line of Best Fit covered, followed by "Kid" and then "Trillions." Stereogum wrote that DIIV "really did go pop, at least to the extent that they recorded ZIRP! with actual pop guy A. G. Cook," and called "Trillions" the thorniest of the new songs to swallow because it is so unlike the DIIV people know.

DIIV "really did go pop, at least to the extent that they recorded ZIRP! with actual pop guy A. G. Cook."

The early reviews are split. The Line of Best Fit gave the record a 6 out of 10, saying the partnership with Cook is still not wholly convincing, while NME also weighed in. Either way, it is the most talked-about turn the band has taken in years.

Which is what makes a Cat's Cradle date in April interesting. By then the album will have been out for nearly six months, long enough for people to decide where they stand on it, and the band will have had time to figure out how the new songs sit next to the old ones on stage. If you were at the Cradle in 2015, you heard one version of DIIV. In April, you will hear what eleven years and a pop producer have done to it.

A Wednesday 8pm start makes it a school-night show, and 750 tickets in a market that has waited this long is not a lot.

Some returns are about nostalgia. This one is about a band that has changed — and a room that has been waiting to find out how much.

Sources: DIIV announce new A. G. Cook-produced album ZIRP! — Stereogum (stereogum.com); DIIV Announce New Album ZIRP! Produced by A. G. Cook — Consequence (concerts.consequence.net); DIIV Announce New A. G. Cook Produced Album ‘ZIRP!’ — Clash (clashmusic.com); DIIV Detail New Album ZIRP!, Unveil Lead Single “The Fountain” — Consequence (concerts.consequence.net); DIIV preview upcoming A. G. Cook-produced album with new single The Fountain — The Line of Best Fit (thelineofbestfit.com); DIIV Share New Single “Kid” — Consequence (concerts.consequence.net); DIIV — “Trillions” — Stereogum (stereogum.com); DIIV confront social turmoil with more simplicity on ZIRP! — The Line of Best Fit (thelineofbestfit.com); DIIV ZIRP! review — NME (nme.com); DIIV announce North American tour — BrooklynVegan (brooklynvegan.com); DIIV at Cat’s Cradle — eTix (etix.prf.hn); DIIV at Cat’s Cradle — JamBase (jambase.com)