As a result, the album took much longer to complete than expected. Reported, Smith wrote over 100 songs for Is the Is Are in an attempt to reach some sort of perfection that would allow his audience to forgive him for his crimes.

This isn’t a simple feat: beyond the fact that that writing 100 songs is challenging, writing music like DIIV’s without the help of some sort of hallucinogenic wouldn’t be a walk in the park either. The reverb-laden and chorus-dripping guitar lines are to DIIV what the Edge’s unnamed guitar effects are to U2, but DIIV takes it a step closer to the edge of modern songwriting and experiments with the very form of alt-rock.

In essence, comparing DIIV with Pink Floyd would be wrong, because they sound nothing alike, but they share musical ambitions. While DIIV often writes tracks that feel destined for alt-rock radio, they have a very different approach to shoe-gazing than their peers. The vocals take a step back and become textural, like the rest of the record, making DIIV feel like an electronic band made entirely with “acoustic” instruments.

Songs like Dopamine reinforce DIIV as leaders in guitar sounds, but they also perfectly encapsulate what the record is about: recovering from a debilitating drug addiction and finding your identity in a new reality.

Tracks like Valentine and Yr Not Far are still very DIIV, in the sense that they’re largely built up with effect-driven guitars and bass lines that feel like they’re constantly moving forward.

It’s hard to say if this is a result of sobriety, but there’s a hint of darkness to this record that wasn’t part of DIIV’s sound before. It’s a sense of discontent that comes with success, but also with failure in spite of it. The record feels like a punishment for Smith’s behaviour as much as it does like a checklist of fans’ desires.

Is the Is Are is the sort of record that you know you’ll like within the first listen. It’s not for everybody. But DIIV knows that. With their sophomore album, instead of widening their palette, it feels like they’re doubling down on their sound in an effort to trademark it.

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Getting rid of the sheen helps make the music feel more approachable, as if you’re listening to some of your friends have fun in a garage. Does that mean these guys pose a threat to the success of Beach House? Probably not. But they offer something the big shoe-gazers don’t: a little bit of intimacy.

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I’ve heard some publications herald this record as the best album of the decade, which is pure link-bait. Calling any record “the best of the decade” when we’re only four years into it is pre-emptive to the point of idiocy. Whether the album stands the test of time or not is irrelevant. This is the album we needed today, not six years from now.

With that in mind, listen to Under The Pressure, Red Eyes, Eyes To The Wind, and Burning to get a taste of what Lost in the Dream is all about. For many people, this will be their album of the year, and I doubt that claim is hyperbolic.

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In the post-Radiohead world, these guys are going to blend in just fine. Terrors is awesome, with a killer chorus, and Shades busts out a riff not unlike some of the stuff Radiohead would have been doing a few records back. I love My Moons, which has a great backbeat and a super catchy chorus.

Cosmos is one of those rare albums that has zero filler. Every track is great, so I want to write about all of them. Instead, I’m picking just one: How Do You Do It, which has the amazing opening lines:

How do you start when you know it’s gonna end? How do you wait if you never plan ahead? How do you laugh when you see what makes you cry? How do you sleep at night when you know you’re going to die? How do you do it?

Those are some fully loaded questions. Lyrically, they feel like questions Yellow Ostrich is interested in asking because they know everything ends. What sort of music do you make if, one day, you know it’s going to end? It seems clear, based on *Cosmos&, that Yellow Ostrich is planing to leave their mark.

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