After releasing 2024’s best “political shoegaze album,” DIIV are back with a new song. “Return Of Youth” was recorded around the Frog In Boiling Water sessions, but it took on a different meaning after frontman Zachary Cole Smith and his family lost their home in the California wildfires.
“at the very beginning of the year my family and i lost our home and everything we owned to the wildfires in altadena, ca,” he wrote in a statement. “we had been preparing for the birth of our second son. we were living in the beautiful world at home that i had imagined in this song, and at once that world was gone. when we re-approached this song to finally release it, i couldn’t help but hear the song differently in the aftermath. what makes a home? can you ever escape the outside world? is hope just a delusion? is anyone actually prepared to be a parent? how CAN you bring a child into this world?”
Cole Smith added, “i found again the big questions were irrelevant. you just keep on living i guess. life happens on life’s terms. anyway, make of the song and the video whatever you want, it’s just a snapshot, albeit a more personal one this time.”
You can watch the “Return Of Youth” video, which features footage shot in the aftermath of the wildfires, above.
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