Coming in hot off of a successful year following the release of their debut album Your Lacuna, alt-rock outfit Viruette have already released two new singles this year both with accompanying visuals. Kicking off with the lead single for an as-yet-untitled future album, “Deadtooth” was released back on May 2nd along with a lyric video/visualizer. This was followed by the release of “Punktured” on June 24th, which marked the first collaboration for the band with Boston pop icon Layzi.
Unveiled alongside a music video directed by Mallcops’ Jimmy Del Ponte, the latest single recounts two separate perspectives on the same Friday night. Exploring the anxiety, anticipation and energy required to venture out into the unknown which can brew feelings of uncertainty anddanger. “That’s where the song begins and ends. It’s very straightforward in that regard, obviously it’s all wrapped up in metaphors and 10 cent words, but really, that’s what the song is about,” explains vocalist Harry Burgess. “The male perspective is a little weary, a little numb, that’s where the song title comes from, and the girl is more sad. It’s an attempt to sort of psychologically profile both of these characters’ anticipatory energy for the Friday night that lays in wait for them.”
In planning for the new record, the band looked internally to reassess their writing processes, saying “we wanted to make something that was more immediate, more accessible, that had more of a beating heart to it. A lot of the subject matter, there are still similarities. There’s always going to be some stuff about yearning. There’s always going to be stuff about human relations and intimacy and exuberance and excess and sadness. But this time, I wanted to have more fun with it.” In keeping with the desire for more fun the band welcomed a collaborator for the first time, allowing Layzi’s Carissa Myer to hop on the track with her trademark dreamy bedroom pop. Punctuating the steady beat with a moment of ethereal levity, Layzi’s easygoing softness coupled with Burgess’ sense of urgency creates layers within what, on paper, is just another song about a Friday night.
The Layzi linkup came about thanks to a shared connection via drummer Andrew Ring. “He’s been her drummer since she started doing shows, so I’ve known Carissa now for three years. I’m always at her shows. She’s always coming to our shows. She digs us. We dig her. So this collaboration has been on the cards for some time now, I just didn’t want to force it,” Burgess’ recounts. “But this song, I really wanted to have a female perspective on it. I knew that she would be perfect for it. Immediately she came on to the studio and the second she’s in the vocal booth, she just nailed it. Her voice is so, so good. Being in the room when she was doing it, you’re like, “okay, this is why she’s considered hot shit. This is why she’s special.” I’m absolutely delighted to have her on it.”
When it came time to shoot a video for the single, it wasn’t a hard decision to ask Del Ponte to pick up the torch yet again. Having shot their music video for “Faceblind” which premiered last year, and having worked with Layzi at SXSW, the decision was a no-brainer. “I actually know Jimmy in a roundabout way through Carissa, because he was their in-house photographer. So he met our drummer Andrew and then started shooting us as well,” Burgess’ explains.
“Initially we had talked about a nightlife theme, like bar hopping, sort of like a montage. But it made sense that the video would amount to some sort of party with a ton of people. We have all these elements like the swagger that Harry shows naturally, so then I’m like, what makes sense? Like something needs to happen, but I’m imagining just movement. So I thought of somebody throwing a bag over his head, like a burlap sack. Then somebody’s abducting him and taking him where? Oh, a party! It was like, “oh shit we’re going with that,” Jimmy Del Ponte recounts of his process. “It sort of just organically came about. I feel like that was the best thing that could have happened. I think something similar happened with the “Faceblind” video, where we planned for something, and it was a very cool idea but from there it was just following the way things worked out. I’m so, so, so pleased with it.”
This idea of letting things land where they may might scare off other creatives, but for Del Ponte, it’s exactly the right process to breed new ideas and reach for deeper creativity. “I know what it looks like in my head, but no video has ever looked the way that I imagined to the full extent. I know what I want. I know what this shot should look like. I know how it should be composed. But it’s never gonna be perfect to your imagination. And I think that’s the cool thing about it like, “oh, we have this idea. Let’s go try to do it!” And you do it to the best of your ability and you can plan as much as you should, but that’s just the way it works out. Who was it that said it, there’s a quote that I need to find. I think it was Tom Cruise, which is actually hilarious. He was talking about his movies and his ideas, and how you can’t be married to an idea, because it’s never gonna turn out perfectly,” says Del Ponte.
“We always allow for a touch of serendipity, don’t we? Sort of allowing things to change and not getting too wedded to one idea because just one idea can’t work out. We just wait until inspiration hits Jimmy, because he’s something of a visionary, so I have a lot of implicit trust in his process,” Burgess’ admits. As a wise individual once said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. With the process crafted by Del Ponte & Viruette already resulting in two well crafted & thoroughly entertaining music videos, and how that same wise individual also says “third times’ the charm”, it can only be up & up for these lucky collaborators as they embark on their next journey.
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