DITZ

‘Never Exhale’ is the sound of a band that hasn’t stopped for a breath. DITZ have toured relentlessly since the release of their first album ‘The Great Regression’ and even before
that, travelling at least 100 days a year since COVID. The songs that form their newest offering were written across Europe, often on off days and in borrowed rehearsal rooms just to break up the long drives.

It could be said that the band treat recording and release of music as an afterthought. Often playing songs live years before their release, tweaking them as they go. The songs on the final record may change before they are ever heard as part of the album.

Formed in late 2015 and playing their first show the following summer, DITZ came together after vocalist C.A. Francis, guitarist Anton Mocock and bass player Caleb Remnant went to watch METZ and Lightning Bolt and Concorde 2 in Brighton. “Let’s do that.” A few shows in they picked up current guitarist Jack Looker, although his original position was behind the drum kit. After a few singles such as ‘Seeking Arrangement’, ‘Gayboy’ and ‘Total 90’, the band arrived at its current lineup with Sam Evans joining on drums. This was summer 2019. The band embarked on their first proper headline tour at the start of 2020, completing it just before the world shut down. They made use of this time wisely, holing up in the closed pub that Sam lived in an worked at to write parts of their first album. As soon as they could play shows again, they did, managing to get several tours under their belt before the release of their debut album “The Great Regression” in 2022. One of these tours was dubbed “the brexit tour” by the band. “We got in a van and tried to play the most random small towns we could, often just to the opening bands and some regulars. It was character building trying to win over these audiences that really couldn’t give a shit. Chichester was a particular highlight.” Francis remarks.

After the album’s release things began to take off for the band, shows started selling out, both in the UK and Europe, publications such as Pitchfork heaped praise on the album and the band had to start thinking about writing another. The problem was that they were always on the road. The answer was to write them on days off, the result is an album that reflects the sound of the road.

‘Never Exhale’ was largely recorded at Holy Mountain studios in London during a freezing cold January. The process was fraught with obstacles. The original plan, to go and record in Rhode Island, was abandoned when DITZ were offered a support tour with IDLES, although the album was still mixed by the originally intended engineer, Seth Manchester (Model/Actriz, Lingua Ignota, Big Brave). The result is an album hardened by the pressure of its own making. Laboured but not loved.

The album themes reveal themselves more on further listens. The opening gambit ‘Taxi Man’ is an exploration into what it would be like to weigh up your impact on the world. The eponymous taxi man could be seen as a St Peter type figure, or like Charon, ferrying the dead into the underworld. The song was written in Cologne on the second day of a two-day songwriting session. The first day was a bust. Nothing was achieved outside of general frustration between the band members. The atmosphere was soured by months
on the road. This carried on the next day, the band members reluctantly arriving separately in drips and drabs. As if out nowhere, Looker came up with the central riff which was quickly strengthened by Remnant’s contribution. The lyrics came from poem written by Francis in the Taxi Ride home the previous day.

Further on the album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and division in ‘Space/Smile’ and ‘It Smells Like Something Died In Here’, ‘Senor Siniestro’ looks at aging and in ‘The Body As A Structure’the separation of the physical from an ingrained sense of reality. It’s political, but ultimately personal. More Genet or Kafka than Orwell or Huxley.

Sonically the album has its roots in the usual DITZ influences, classic noise rock such as The Jesus Lizard or Shellac, or the obtuse post punk of the Fall, but also brings in fresh influences. ‘Space/Smile’ in particular holds these references aloft. The initial demo was a slower affair written by Remnant, revved up in the rehearsal room by the fury the track demanded. The closing track ‘Britney’, could be compared to Radiohead or Mogwai. Jack wrote the initial version of the instrumental on weekend at home with family. It was an attempt to reconcile two different emotions. It was tentatively shared with the rest of the band, Looker believing they would pass on something so different from what they’ve previously released. He was wrong and they embraced the chance for experimentation. Francis’s lyrics reflecting the vulnerability of the instrumental. 

Overall the album is a clear development from their first effort. A sign of things to come