Covet: verb. Meaning, “yearn to possess or have something.” Catharsis: noun. Meaning, “the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.”
Though these words may seem opposed, together, they represent wholeness: the full-circle undertaking of wanting to have and needing to let go.
So when San Jose math-rock trio Covet released their third full-length album, Catharsis, earlier this month, it represented much more than just another record.
“If anything, this album is a love letter to all the different kinds of music that I have been listening to and inspired by,” explains Yvette Young, Covet’s guitarist and driving force. “When I started writing it, a lot of it felt very whimsical and fantastical, reminding me of a fantasy world. I wanted this album to have a theme of being a fantasy.”
It’s safe to say Young is Covet in the same way Lemmy was Motörhead. You can’t have one without the other. But more on that later.
If Catharsis is a love letter, then it’s an unapologetic, blood-on-the-page kind, traveling through romance and heartache, soaring highs and the darkest of lows and ending on a final hopeful note. The chance that, maybe, with time, things might be alright in the end.
Catharsis opens with “Coronal,” the only track with vocals and easily the heaviest on the album (although track six, “Smolder,” does come in a close second). Unlike the feathery guitar wings that lift most of Young’s songs, “Coronal” is sludgy, the closest thing to metal from Covet so far.
“I wanted it to be a shock,” Young says. “And then have it go into this instrumental world.”
It’s a musical trial by fire that, appropriately, leads into the single “Firebird.” The title is inspired by the first car Young’s mom purchased when she moved to America, a Pontiac Firebird, which she had saved up to buy with money from the three jobs she worked at the time.
“It was her pride and joy because she saved up,” Young reminisces. “I wanted to write a song in celebration of moving to a new place and having the autonomy and freedom to do whatever you want.”
While the road for Young has always been paved in music, it hasn’t always been smooth.
At the age of four she began learning piano, picking up the violin at seven. But the pressure to excel at music and academia weighed on her. By the end of high school, she was hospitalized due to health complications. It was there that she picked up the guitar and taught herself the unique, two-handed tapping method she’s become known for.
“It saved my life,” she admits. “When I was in the hospital [the guitar] gave me a voice again and control over something for myself.”
In 2014, she started Covet as a fun garage project. But by 2016 the band had become popular. She decided to take a chance on herself, making Covet her full-time job.
Since, she’s become recognized as a guitar virtuoso, collaborating with peers such as Ichika Nito and sharing the stage with guitar gods like Steve Vai. Pop-turned-rock sensation Willow—as in Willow Smith—even asked for a custom guitar tab book, took lessons from Young and called her “one of the best guitarists of this generation.”
“It’s crazy, I’m very honored and would love to do a record with her,” Young says.
But behind the accolades, Young was hiding her pain.
Last October, she announced she had parted ways with the band’s original bassist and drummer. Young calls her new lineup “angels in my life.”
“I was miserable before,” she admits, comparing Covet’s last U.K. tour to a lobster being slowly boiled alive.
“I couldn’t really pinpoint why until some really bad stuff happened. Now that I’m out of it, I can’t believe I normalized so much stuff that was not okay.”
Which brings us to Catharsis. It’s really Young’s love letter to herself, a way to release past traumas, heal and begin again.
“If you [are a musician], you can’t care about what people think,” she says. “There are going to be people that hate you no matter what. You might as well do the things that make you feel the best, that make you feel healthy.”
Covet
Out Now
Triple Crown Records
