DIIV are back with a new single, “Return of Youth,” which comes just ahead of a three-night run at LA’s Teragram Ballroom this weekend. The haunting, seven-minute song was produced by Chris Coady, who worked on 2024’s Frog in Boiling Water, and recorded before the birth of frontman Cole Smith’s first son. “I imagined seeing myself through the eyes of my child,” Smith says, “a rebirth of sorts, laced with fear and insecurity, discovering beauty and serenity together in the simplest places.”
Released now, Smith hears “Return of Youth” differently as he and his family’s home was destroyed in the LA wildfires earlier this year as they were expecting their second son. “When we reapproached 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?”
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The video for “Return of Youth” was shot in the aftermath of the LA wildfires in Altadena. “Make of the song and the video whatever you want, it’s just a snapshot, albeit a more personal one this time,” Smith adds.
Watch the video below.
