In many ways, Yvette’s career since has been about overcoming those cloying insecurities and distractions. As well as three albums at the helm of Covet – 2018’s effloresce and 2020’s technicolor paving the way for catharsis – she dropped four solo EPs between 2014 and 2019. Listening chronologically, there is a retreat from guarded technicality to more open expressiveness. It’s a process that catharsis’ refreshed Covet line-up (seeing the arrival of bassist Brandon Dove and drummer Jessica Burdeaux) has only accelerated.
“When I didn’t have a band, I wanted to sound really full by myself,” Yvette reasons. “When you’re trying to grab the attention of people scrolling through a feed, you inherently try to show off. As I started playing live, and with a band, I realised that’s not something I really enjoy. It’s hard to be emotionally engaged when I’m hyper-focused on getting every note perfect. I play the best shows when I’m able to emotionally enter the song. Also, I realised I should occupy less space to leave some for other instruments. And I don’t want to send a message to listeners that, ‘You can’t do this!’ I want to say, ‘Everyone can do this! It’s so healing and wonderful and it can unite everyone. And look how fun it is! I can jump around and smile and look cool and not worry about people being conscious of me messing up!’”
True to that, there is a fresh, freewheeling energy running through catharsis’ eight tracks. From grungy opener coronal through the almost country-fried surf rock of firebird (an ode to Yvette’s mother’s old car), the sprawling post-rock of vanquish to playful, sax-infused closer lovespell, they’re bite-sized portals into other worlds. Every song begins with a sound, Yvette explains. It’s about figuring out which world that sound belongs in, then trying to transport the listener there. “A lot of my guitar parts are quite lyrical,” she gestures, ardently. “They start with me singing a tune, then teaching myself that on guitar by ear. It’s an approach that doesn’t let the limitations of the instrument come into it. Plus, it’s a way of pushing myself to play things that I can’t already, which in turn makes me better at guitar.”
It also makes for music that doesn’t sound quite like anyone else. Tellingly, Yvette is reluctant to more specifically categorise what she does than “rock” or “math rock”, but there is a fascinating tangle of ideas at play. Influences as varied as “poppy but proggy” Danish alt. rockers Mew and Illinois emo icons American Football, anime soundtracks and electro trailblazers like San Francisco’s underscores and experimental pop star Jean Dawson are name-dropped during our chat. It’s not a comparison Yvette jumps to herself, but she sees the parallels with Texan trailblazers Polyphia, who’re even more at the forefront of the current wave of highly-skilled players helping take guitar back to the cutting-edge of cool.
“What Polyphia are great at is creating guitar music that doesn’t sound like ‘guitar music’. People don’t think that you can transform the sound of a guitar, but you can put a trap hi-hat behind it and have it sound almost electronic. People need to hear guitar music in a different context. It’s so exciting when you hear it turn up in different genres like EDM.”
