It takes a special type of talent to be able to weave a story together with minimal to no words, and Covet have proven themselves to be the instrumental poet laureates of our generation with their newest album Catharsis. Yvette Young and associates Brandon Dove and Jessica Burdeaux have masterfully created a dynamic, fresh landscape for listeners to explore. The album is aptly named, each song providing its own unique journey through emotional highs and lows with every riff.

“Coronal, the album’s opening track, is reminiscent of sunlight filtering through the summer treetops; the fuzz of the guitar wraps listeners in its warm embrace. Young’s layered vocals add a brightness that sits as a lovely contrast against the contrast of the guitar tone of this track. Catharsis’s lead single “Firebird” is a fun, upbeat tune with an interesting drum beat that interludes into a slightly more ambient atmosphere before building itself back up again. 

The third track, “Bronco”, is dominated by a fuzzy bassline and precise rhythmic hits between the drum and guitar that adds a beautiful space for listeners to delve into. The synths intermingled in the song are spacey and 80’s-adjacent that eventually crescendo into “Vanquish”. There’s a twilight mood to this song, the picked guitar twinkling like stars against a night sky. The song then transforms into a hard-hitting anthem for the remainder of the piece.

“Interlude” serves as a resting point in the listeners’ journey; gentle piano and encompassing, layered vocalizations create a peaceful crest and lull during moments of dynamic changes. “Smoulder” reels us back into the last portion of the albums with hazy rhythm and bright leads intermingling together and then descending into a welcomed madness of sound that is sharply contrasted by the following track “Merlin”.

“Merlin” feels like dawn breaking over the horizon, the light-hearted tone serves as the foundation of the song, but is interwoven with a call-and-response between the brighter and overdriven riffs. “Lovespell” concludes the album and is deftly named; it’s very airy and the synths added into the song add a nice accent to the atmosphere of the tune. Subtle build ups and melodiousness saxophones leave listeners with a calming sense of resolution on the musical journey they have been on.

Catharsis is an album that will leave listeners hitting repeat over and over again; the tracks on Catharsis each serve as their own story, but are still cohesive enough to the overarching tone of the album that each song feels like it’s in its own perfect place amongst the others. Covet continue to prove themselves to be artisans of their craft, and their latest release is sure to please old and new fans alike.

10/10