Effloresce, by Covet
Suggested by Dylan Smith
Covet are Math Rock.
Ignoring the egregious omission of the proper S in Maths, it seems that Math Rock is Rush-style Prog or Indie Rock, with complex time signatures atypical rhythmic structures. It’s odd, angular, and discordant.
Let’s see if we can come up with some other GCSE Subject / Musical Genre pairings:
Geography Scat: “Bizzzi-buzzizzi ScOOOdily scabba-baba Bee-BOOO-bah Oxbow Lake.”
PE Blues: “I woke up this morning / Din’t put no gym shorts in my bag.”
English Lit Hip Hop: “From the streets of Verona, we’re the Capulet Crew / Lookin’ to ice another Montague.”
As a concept, I’m wary of such Progressive distinctions. In reviews past, I’ve shown little time for florid navel-gazing. Will Covet, a classic Math Rock trio of guitarist / bassist / drummer, supply a lesson plan that will inspire me for years to come?
If I had to describe Covet with two words, they’d be Intricate and Beautiful. Let’s tackle them one by one.
Intricate: Each of the six song on Effloresce in a technical masterstroke, shaping the three separate musical strands into a compelling interwoven whole. The drums are light and jazzy, the bass is unobtrusive yet accomplished, and the glorious guitar steals the whole damn show. That there Yvette Young is some talent, believe me. The song structures are balanced, but they contain enough intrigue to interest the most stony-faced Prog Pelican you know, causing many a beaked head to nod sagely in appreciation at a job well done.
Beautiful: My most surprising takeaway was the beauty of this album, and the Mathcore sounds within it. I didn’t expect to be so calmed, so charmed, so swept up in the rhythms and flows of each track, so smitten by the deft and delicate melodies that skipped from beat to beat. This smoothness of sound helped plane off the more abrasive surfaces of noodleprog twiddly excess; instead of shaking my head at yet another smugly audacious tempo-skip, I was genuinely enthralled at the direction a track would take next.
Sadly, there is a third word I would use to describe Effloresce… Repetitive. Each song treads the same boards as the one that preceded it, so much so that it’s hard to establish their boundaries. My favourite, Falkor, is chosen largely for the name, as you could stab a pin in the tracklist and pierce a paragon of the genre. And if I’m honest, the repetitive nature isn’t too annoying, as the album is done and dusted in thirty minutes.
Even with my documented disdain for instrumentals, I find I’m drawn to Covet and their signature sound. I award them 7/10. While they didn’t ace the Math test, they certainly placed in a high percentile.