Covet: Release, Relief and Rebirth
The new COVET album, while undoubtedly taking the hallmarks of Yvette Young’s writing style, has some real shifts in its tonal pallet and the sweeping emotional feel. Where COVET has been known for their technical, math rock movements, catharsis overall looks broader, more aggressive and bolder. While the band literally packed their final things for their US tour, we caught up with Yvette Young about the writing process, owning hard times and remerging more excited about music and the future.
“I feel like I just more and more really want to just follow what excites me,” Yvette explains. “And I feel like my playing has evolved over time. What I’m truly interested in is making soundscapes and like, capturing emotion and feel. And I think technicality is kind of the last thing I’m thinking about. It’s still there. But I just love all kinds of music, I love like grunge and shoegaze, and a lot of post-rock stuff, and I love like a lot of 80s pop, as well. So, I just like wanted to cram it all into one exploration.”
The freedom of expression on this record is absolutely crystal clear, from the bright and light moments to the crunchy, fuzzed- out riffs. When asked about which songs were the most fun to play, the answer was resounding. “I always love firebird and lovespell. Honestly, all the singles,” she says cheerfully. “I think coronal is really fun too. I’m excited for that one to actually come out because it is so different. It’s like, all in – it sounds a little bit almost, clumsy, I think. And it’s like, slow. I think people associate me with like fast and upbeat. But it’s really fun releasing a record that isn’t just one type of feel, or one colour or one texture. I think what makes for a dynamic body of music is having a variety. So, I’m just really excited to have that variety and be able to perform that as well.”
There’s an edge to COVET this time around that feels like Yvette is looking to make the whole band feel more authentic and confident. Through catharsis, the rebirth and rediscovery of what Yvette found most joy in in music has been recaptured. “It’s funny that you said this edge because I definitely was like listening to as like, oh, wow, there’s like a lot of highs and there’s like slower songs. I think a lot of my post-metal, like kind of grunge background appeared on this record of it. Maybe it was like a bit of a reflection of like the topics or something, yeah.”
While COVET’s previous record Technicolor was released in the pandemic, it was actually within that time that the songs for catharsis were coming together. “I also learned a lot because I wrote the songs over the pandemic and I picked up a new skill; I learned how to record, so I ended up being able to demo the songs entirely before I went into the studio. And that was so helpful, because I could think about it spatially and be more conscious of like, okay, this part is missing something we need to add it.”
With the time and space to play with what she wanted to achieve on these songs, it’s allowed a new approach to characters and stories within the tunes. “Yeah, I guess the songs are all like stories that I envisioned in my head,” Yvette describes. “And I don’t know if it’s like a literal thing, but I was imagining, like certain characters and certain scenarios and hoping to kind of make like the theme song for that character or the theme song for that scenario. Like almost like a movie score for a movie that doesn’t exist.”
The overall approach to COVET on catharsis has been a different beast to the previous records. This time, Yvette had general concepts and broad strokes for all parts. “I initially played the bass parts, so I had dropbox folders where it was just bass parts. And then, in terms of drums, I kind of like had vague instructions. But we’ve workshopped it more so in a room because I had all the demos already done just waiting for the other band members. It was kind of an easier thing to just be like, ‘okay, study this, then let’s get together and we’re just going to finish up the details in a room,’ instead of, ‘let’s learn this all in a row’. So that was really useful.”
With a line-up change and a few things to grow past personally, it was clear that change was on the horizon, and it was either a totally fresh start, or let COVET as a project go. Thankfully Yvette chose the former. “I think when it comes to taking care of your mental health and your safety and longevity in your career, and how passionate you are about something – your passion for like creation and writing music, I don’t think you can think about other people’s perception; that can’t be a factor in your decision making.”
The confidence in this record, from its beginnings to the final release into the world, is excitingly apparent. Steering COVET and its direction is a thing Yvette has potentially shied away from really owning before. That’s a thing of the past, with Catharsis setting the precedent for the things to come. “Yeah, I think before I felt afraid to like, speak up about anything. But now I feel like I actually can call it like, you know, it’s always been my project. And I write everything for it. And it’s just cool being able to actually feel like, I can do it justice, you know?”
While going through a period of redefining what COVET is and what she herself wanted to create, she’s as ever her positive, inspiring self with her attitude to what has been and what can come in the future. “You know, everyone has to learn lessons in life, and I think this is a big one,” says Yvette earnestly. “I think after turbulent times usually comes growth. I’m just really optimistic about the future. I think our current bandmates are such lovely people, I just can’t wait to write music with this line-up.”
The tone, shape and texture of COVET is experimentally fluid and joyfully flexible. For listeners, that means getting to experience a plethora of fresh and exciting music, while for Yvette, it means being able to look forward to how her music shows growth. “I think this was a transitional record,” she reflects on catharsis, “It’s a labour of love for sure. It was filled with a lot of joy, but also the process I think, was one of the most painful ones and difficult ones. I’m really proud that it’s out there and ultimately, you can’t really hear any personal drama or heartbreak in the in the music. It’s supposed to just be about uplifting people and making people feel things.”
catharsis is out now via Triple Crown Records.
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