Catharsis

California-based band Covet explore an emotional essence in their technical math rock, injecting feelings of yearning, wonder, and curiosity into their mostly instrumental songs marked by bandleader Yvette Youngs virtuosic guitar shredding. Each of the eight tracks that make up the groups third proper full-length, Catharsis, takes a different route, the album being designed as a collection of individual chapters each representing its own realm of fantasy. This delivers varied and interesting results. The romantic hopefulness of "Lovespell" makes it a standout, with understated synths and percussion supporting a springy and optimistic main melody. "Firebird" is similar, with memorable lead guitar lines and perky drumming pushing the tunes happy expressions along. "Vanquish" gets into more tumultuous territory, especially its tornado of an ending, and "Smolder" follows a similar emotional path before crumbling into noisy formlessness. Young adds vocals to a few songs, with wordless vocalizations adding mystery to the piano-based "Interlude" and a murky blur of pitch-shifted singing lingering low in the mix on opening track "Coronal." Covets songs on Catharsis dont exactly break into separate realms of fantasy as they might have intended, but each tune takes a slightly different approach, deepening the bands sound and exposing some of the more emotional details that sometimes hide in their complex composition. ~ TiVo Staff