Ten years ago today, DIIV released ‘Is the Is Are.’ To celebrate, it’s on sale on our webstore 20% off all month.

Shop now on the Captured Tracks Store.

Following their debut, this sophomore album expanded their range of sound, leaning into darker textures and pushing beyond dream-pop into heavier, messier, and more emotionally raw territory.

Pitchfork said “Is the Is Are hits on a visceral, teenage level similar to that of the Cure or Smashing Pumpkins”

10 years on, in a written contemplation of the album, Cole from DIIV says:

“this record is a broadcast straight from the depths of the darkest period of my life, stubbornly digging my heels in, unflinchingly entrenched in it. hearing it now i can also clearly sense a yearning for some change and serenity. turns out i was on the precipice of finding it.

despite that, i find that this record is difficult to revisit. we don’t often play these songs live. i guess it just is what it is. the past is written in stone. it’s tough to witness but i’m grateful it exists, a raw document of my own selfish self-destruction. today i can extend myself some empathy and at the same time, point to this physical document and say “i don’t ever want to be this person again”.

but that’s just what this record is to me. what is it to you?”

Available now on a double LP, CD, and digital download from the Captured Tracks store.