Why Not Destroy This? marks a new chapter in the evolution of ViRG. While prior releases were, for all intents, fully solo projects, Why Not Destroy This? is the recorded debut of ViRG the band.
In addition to Piano Whitman, the record features synthesists Alex Salser (also of D.C. luminaries Oh He Dead) and Daniel Rozmajzl (Pleasure Business), and drummer and percussionist Maxfield Holiday (Pleasure Business).

“It’s been a really magical experience” says Whitman. “I wrote with Alex, I wrote with Maxfield. I did a writing session with Eric Palmquist, our mixing engineer. Jim James and I wrote “Lost in You’ together”.

ViRG does not use soft synths from computer programs, so Whitman works within her synthesizers to chase down sounds amidst the oscillators and envelopes, and then they track. “Because nothing is digital in any way,” explains Whitman, “we're capturing performances the same way you would capture an acoustic instrument. What people play is what goes on the record. What you hear is the take.”

Thematically, Why Not Destroy This? is, at its deepest, a record about human connection; and a lamentation about how those connections fray further every day. “The world is rapidly changing and being bought up by these big corporations and industries,” she says. “The mind-control and
numbing of it all, it just makes me want to fight back.” Though she is an admitted synthesizer obsessive, she has a deep disdain for Artificial Intelligence. “I recently learned there are 380 data centers right next to our house. There’s a phenomenon where priests bless data centers -
it's a real thing!” And thus, was born the track “Data Center Exorcist”.

The synthesizer was conceived initially as a way to emulate other “real” instruments. Soon though, humans’ innate curiosity brought about a sonic revolution. It is in that collaborative relationship that magic was born. “I have this very deep emotional human attachment to these
machines” says ViRG. “I find that, other than voice, they are the best way that I can express myself. You make the decisions. It's you who turns the knob or adjusts the envelope.”

And so, we have Why Not Destroy This? A record of dualities that rails against everything from data centers to deceptive paramours, while also celebrating self-determination, real love, and
liberation of all ilk’s. “A lot of this record is about this thought of: why not destroy this?” Whitman says. “It could be like a personal relationship, or a path that you're going down in life, or artificial intelligence. It’s about curiosity and change.”