Patience is a virtue; awe is a Viruette single. In the four years since the transatlantic rock outfit debuted in Boston, Viruette’s developed a reputation for releasing sinewy, emotional pot-stirrers — the kind of tunes that keep you on your feet, but also keep you up at night. “SWAYA,” their latest single, smooths over that signature tension instead of magnifying it.
“It’s a song about being awed in the presence of arresting beauty, and the dynamic of perceiving it in the moment,” says frontman Harry Burgess. “We’ve tended to write songs about reckoning with the complexities of heightened moments — this one’s about luxuriating in one, playfully and reverently.”
“SWAYA” and its accompanying music video, which arrived at the top of the month (April 1), are an art-rock resting place: “Come rest your head on the space between the things you feel,” sings Burgess. “SWAYA” is like that bench at a contemporary art museum that’s half-creative-display, half-functional — you feel a little guilty for sitting there, but you’re damn glad you bothered to press pause and just be.
The song will appear on Viruette’s forthcoming album MERIDIAN, due out in June. Tune in below.