catharsis

COVET

I've known of Yvette Young, the finger-picking, two-handed tapping guitar phenom, and her band COVET for quite some time now, but never really took a dive into her work. Frankly, their brand of math rock, along with her contemporaries like Chon or Polyphia, never interested me much. It's supremely clean, a little too regimented, and after awhile, it can all start to sound the same. The vibe is nice, but it is often relegated to musical wallpaper. To suit my tastes, I need a little more than the flashy musicianship, and intricate rhythms. I need danger, unpredictability, an occasional yet egregious breaking of the 'rules.' I believed bands like COVET didn't really offer that, and thus, I never gave them the time of day.

COVET's new album, however, is being labelled as somewhat of a rebirth after a tumultuous 2022 that left Young questioning whether the project could carry on. Young ultimately decided to "try one more time" after a separation with her rhythm section (David Adamiak and Forrest Rice on bass and drums respectively), effectively beginning a new chapter for COVET. Given all the shake-up and uncertainty within the band's camp, I figured this could potentially result in a fruitful period of inspiration that could result in some of Young's best music to date, which may or may not be more in line with my tastes. So, I made the dive into catharsis. Immediately, coronal subverts expectations with its heavenly shoegaze presentation, and vocals! A first I believe for Young. The lead guitar melody is so patient and soothing, and I love the wet and submerged quality of Young's vocals, especially when they are pitched down. It's not the most novel take on this sound, but it's a warm wash that I find quite pleasing.

Don't take this as an indication of a new sonic direction for the band because they return to their bread and butter for the following three tracks. They're good. Sunny and jovial guitar noodling that could easily soundtrack a Sunday afternoon drive in a hot climate. bronco wound up being my favourite of the set, perhaps my favourite of the entire record. I found the guitar work to be the most impressive here and the melodic lines also happened to be the most fun. There's some cool stuttering effects (which I'm a total sucker for) woven into the track's first half. This song, and vanquished too, also have epic and thrilling conclusions; distorted and fuzzy guitars wail away along with some hyperactive drumming from Rice (who laid down most of the drum tracks prior to his exit). I get the sense of being untethered, finding a new found freedom after being chained down for a prolonged period of time.

Breaching the halfway point, I do find the record dips into a bit of a lull. We get a piano composition interlude - that doesn't really do much for me and isn't much of an interlude at two minutes - and then the album sort of resets with another shoegazy number. smolder really lives up to its title; all smoke, no fire. There's a moment where the drums continuously interrupt the tune to go on a tangent for a few bars before the band reconvenes, and it would be cool if it did it once or twice. By the sixth time the drums diverge, I feel like I'm being delayed. It's easily my least favourite moment on the record. Thankfully the last two songs sum things up fairly decently. merlin has a strange mystical energy thanks to the angular, key switch-ups in its main motif. There's also this aggressive sounding breakdown that is pretty cool, and they even take a page of the deathcore book, playing it slower... and slower towards the end. We finish off with lovespell which is another easy, breezy, noodly jam, and while it's not my favourite among the collection, it does leave things off on a pretty optimistic note. It's cool to observe the natural progression of moods; weathering the storm in smolder, coming out of it feeling a little confused and uncertain on merlin, and finally arriving to a place of clarity on lovespell. I guess I'll use this opportunity to state overall that the album's sequencing flows quite naturally. Anyways, I particularly like the second half of this final track for the inclusion of the saxophone, especially at the very end. It's a beautiful finish to the record.

As far as instrumental math rock records in similar veins go, COVET's catharsis is one of the better ones I've heard. There's enough tension building moments, climactic finishes, and earworm melodies that keep this thing from fading completely in the background. Although, I definitely think there could have been more free-wheeling moments. It can still feel very stiff, regimented, and heady compared to the wild, 'heck it' style of some of my personal favourites wihin the genre (Tera Melos and Hella being two examples). For the time being though, I can see myself continuing to listen to this over the summer when I'm having those reflective moments outdoors. Beyond that though, who knows.