Album Review: Never Exhale by DITZ

The continual rise of DITZ is no fluke. Indeed, the Brighton-based five-piece must be one of the hardest working bands on the circuit, having been almost permanently on tour these past four years--and probably longer if you include the enforced break initiated by COVID. So, it's to their credit they're also capable of writing and constructing new music whilst on the road, as Never Exhale, their follow-up to 2023's debut The Great Regression, succinctly attests to.

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Smells like something died in here. I've never experienced a time in my life where I simply wasn't interested in music. In the last month though, I had difficulty finding myself interested in anything. I'm not a nihilist, but it's hard to not to question the point of existence in the face of the ….

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In 2020 Brighton five-piece DITZ released their 5 Songs EP, a deliciously raw collection of punchy, indie-post-punk. A couple of years later came The Great Regression, which was, despite its title, a great leap forward, maintaining their instrumental hostility whilst expanding the scope from scrappy, hooky bursts into more ambitious, expansive, and artistically diverse territory. Never Exhale continues that trend with ten tracks combining the crushing post-punk low-end of Idles, the writhing indie-punk intensity of Honningbarna, and the art-rock experimentation of Squid (albeit without the jazz).

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Never Exhale, the Brighton quintet's second album, channels their volatile energy into a swirling vortex that feels both intensely suffocating and freely vital. Effectively drawing inspiration from recent life spent constantly on the road touring they create a turbulent statement on the mundanity and oddness of touring. The bewilderment; the chaos; the disorientation; and being left with time to think.

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A great crop of bands fusing post-punk and noise rock have materialised over the last couple of years, with the likes of Model/Actriz, Mandy, Indiana, Gilla Band and many others crafting moody, intense and often downright sexy noise-punk that pulsates with abrasive textures and exhilarating rhythms. DITZ are equally one of the finest UK bands to fuse these two welcome bedfellows, as shown on second album 'Never Exhale'; a robust, tense and thrilling ten songs atop which the Brighton five-piece overlay some relentlessly anxious and sometimes hostile atmospherics. It makes for a gripping fusion.

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To note that DITZ‘s second album ‘Never Exhale’ was written whilst touring Europe, often in borrowed rehearsal rooms and during long drives, perhaps explains the opening track, the instrumental ‘V70’. One suspects this refers to a Volvo V70 vehicle they travelled in and it begins with the sounds of getting into a car, preparing to drive including the clunk click of a seat belt. The track builds gradually, winding up DITZ’s soundscape in anticipation of what is to follow, before a stark end.

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