Premiere: Derde Verde, ‘Don’t Look Away’

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Derde Verde

Soundscape shapers Dylan McKenzie and Jonathan Schwarz have been doing business as Derde Verde for 15 years now, though it wasn’t until 2019 that they released their subtly beautiful debut album, “Slow Light.”

The COVID-19 pandemic sent the duo into a hiatus (though McKenzie released a solo EP) — and, importantly, magnified the world and cultural events in Derde Verde’s songwriting gaze.

Then, adding drummer Colin Woodford to the creative mix, McKenzie and Schwarz got to work on a new album, recording live in the studio to 2-inch tape. The album, “Tug of War,” will be out in June. And the tumults of the past three years were not far from their minds.

“Don’t Look Away,” their first single since 2019, trades Derde Verde’s previous introspection for a bigger sound and bolder messaging. The indie-rocker, written at the height of the pandemic, rides a rolling, open-road beat with the reminder, the band says, to resist burying one’s head in the sand and “to stay present, aware and alive in the center of the storm.”

“You stay in your own echo chamber/ whatever makes you feel safer,” McKenzie sings over a rolling, open-road beat, empathetic while sounding a gentle warning against self-isolation. It’s a song about summoning the courage to stay engaged, even in a world of “twisted words and pointed fingers.”

“Don’t Look Away” is officially out Thursday.

||| Stream: “Don’t Look Away”

||| Live: Derde Verde celebrate their album release with a show on June 16 at Gold-Diggers. Tickets.

||| Previously: “Slow Light,” “Have You Felt It?,” “Waking the Dream,” “Turn,” “Days of Drought,” “Secret”