Read previous – Covet @ The TLA in Philly
Words by Gemma Lopena
The Rainforest Café House Band – oops, I mean Covet – never disappoints. The three-piece math rock band, consisting of Yvette Young (guitar), David Adamiak (bassist), and Forrest Rice (drums) are currently embarking on their headlining tour supported by Hikes – a band fronted by the legendary Filipinx, Nay Wilkins (lead guitar, vocals). After an outstanding performance from Hikes, consisting of ethereal guitar riffs and punchy, marimba-like melodies, I think I listened to frog noises for about twenty minutes as they set the stage for Covet. That was personally my favorite part about the entire show (kidding!).
When Covet came on stage, Yvette was adorned in a fiery red dress, complimenting her coruscating orange guitar. Per usual, Forrest’s cymbals were set abnormally high. David waltzed onto the stage barefoot with the biggest smile on his face. I’ve never heard Yvette sing live in concert before, so I was ecstatic that they played “Parachute” off of their latest album, Technicolor. She sounded like a Disney princess! But instead of wearing sparkly shoes or tiaras, she had a magic, sparkly guitar. Moreover, watching this small (but mighty) band play is truly captivating. I think something needs to be said about the technicality of their songs, which remind me of a sort of musical triathlon. You’ve got the trademark tapping which reminds me of the rhythmic steps of a runner. Then, you’ve got the changing time signatures which feel like biking up and down hills and through different terrains. Finally, there are the fluid melodies which mimic the graceful movements of a swimmer. Similar to how not anyone could just up and do a triathlon, not many people can just pick up a glittery guitar and pioneer a revolutionary sound. Not anyone can poke at strings and create magic. For example, whenever I try to learn any of Yvette’s carefully crafted riffs, it takes me a few thousand tries to play through all of thirty seconds of the song. My camera roll corroborates this claim; 90% of it is littered with a graveyard of guitar takes. That being said, it takes an unparalleled prowess to write, and then play, a whole set’s worth of these kinds of songs.
But I’d actually argue that the technicality isn’t the most impressive thing about Covet. While they tend to fall under the genre of math rock, I think that the “math” in math rock can be a bit of a misnomer, for there is nothing algorithmic or formulaic about Covet’s music. A listener can tell that there is so much more to their songs than a lifeless music theory skeleton. Instead, they take their songs and breathe life into them so that the music dances and leaps and cascades with them on stage. From the clean, bouncy tapping melodies in “Shibuya” to the hauntingly intense and gritty breakdown in “Nero,” Covet’s musical quilt-work tells stories that seem to transcend even what lyrics can convey. This story-telling ability, and the fact that their hearts seem to be intertwined with their music, is most admirable to me. On a final note, the audience was lucky to hear some of Covet’s unreleased songs, which were froggin’ epic! All I’m going to say is that I am super stoked for the record to come out!
