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. The songs that form their newest offering were written across Europe, often on off days and in borrowed rehearsal rooms.
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.
Never Exhale was largely recorded at Holy Mountain studios in London during a freezing cold January. The process was frought 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 of the world. The eponymous taxi man could be seen as a St Peter type figure.
Further on the album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and division, Space/Smile and It smells like something died in here, aging, Senor Siniestro and the separation of the physical from reality, The Body As A Structure. 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. The closing track Britney, could be compared to Radiohead or Mogwai. Overall the album is a clear development from their first effort. A sign of things to come.
