That this is only DIIV's fourth album seems like a figment of the imagination. There's an air of epicness to the story of the 12 years since they made their name with the glitteringly melodic indie-rock masterpiece Oshin. They've undergone several transformations, all of which have been painful. Frontman Zachary Cole Smith peered into the abyss on their addiction-documenting sophomore album Is The Is Are, only for the abyss to stare back at him in a way that nearly consumed him whole. Their 2019 response, Deceiver, was a dark, brooding sound of the band trying to find their presence again. The evocative nature of the live show that accompanied it suggested they'd found a rare sweet spot between seductive shoegaze and crackling rock and roll. The pandemic put a stop to plans for an immediate follow-up, and instead, they spent years of painful, fruitless writing sessions arriving at Frog in Boiling Water. Those who dislike clichés will be disappointed to hear that the Brooklyn quartet has once again produced something truly special, while suffering for their art. It's a true album statement that finds them pushing ever higher in their pursuit of monolithic shoegaze (Brown Paper Bag, Somber the Drums) while exploring softer territory with atmospherically dense tracks where moody melodies eat away at the marrow of their bones. The latter aspect not only matches the album's thematic content, but also brings it to the fore by placing Cole's vocals front and center. As their playful deployment suggests, Frog in Boiling Water is a highly conceptual, quietly infuriating work that sifts through the detritus of post-truth politics with unguarded chops. With the extracurricular polemics that once defined them now entirely in the past, DIIV enter a thrilling and thoughtful second act.