At the damp, groggy opening day of this year’s Treefort Music Fest in Boise, ID, the most memorable set didn’t belong to heavy hitters Dinosaur Jr. or Built to Spill or Surf Curse. It came courtesy of a band that was new to the majority of attendees: (mostly) instrumental trio Covet.
The self-described “emotional nerd rock” band, led by Yvette Young, took the stage as the sun was vanishing and the moon was coming into focus. There was a palpable excitement in the air as Covet introduced themselves to dozens of festival goers and played some of their new album, Catharsis, live for the first time.
“You guys are the best,” bassist Brandon Dove, a new addition to Covet, told the crowd after they debuted new song “Firebird.” Dove, along with Young and new drummer Jessica Burdeaux, played nimbly yet excitedly as Covet attracted a new legion of performers with their dazzling mechanics and demure approach to performing. It’s the kind of gig that music lovers in Boise will tell each other about until the next Treefort. If only they knew the half of what was actually going on with the band.
On opening track “Coronal,” Young sets the table for Catharsis with lyrics to the only song on the record that features them. Here’s an excerpt:
“Time is ticking away/ Self destruction—are you ready? (or not)/ This feels like a dream—the end we all knew was coming/ Glory days melt away—impermanent/ So confused, I can’t feel you/ Fantasy calls to me—I enter the void again.”
In a conversation shortly before Covet’s appearance at Treefort, Young said she usually favors a laissez-faire approach to her art, letting the listener decide what the band’s lyrics and songs mean. But Young didn’t mince words when it came to talking, for the first time publicly, about her ongoing dispute with a former band member. After collecting herself, Young shared that she didn’t feel safe or healthy around one of her former band members, which prompted the lineup change. She said that an incident occurred while Covet was on tour that made her decide she had to act.
“It’s been a really painful, long process,” Young begins with a paus. “I made the decision to get new people because I felt unsafe in my own project. It’s a difficult subject. I’m still trying to find a graceful way to talk about it.”
Due to the litigation, she asked that the former band member’s name and her allegations against him be kept private.
“It was very clear that it was not healthy to be around this person,” Young says. “It’s always been my project. I write for it and do all the art. But… I was at a point where I wanted to quit because I was so unhappy in my own project.”
Young’s account comes more than 15 years after the movement started. Allegations of bad behavior and abuse on the part of men toward women continue to surface everywhere. Even in the arts, women continue to come forward to talk about the pain they have secretly carried with them. Revealing that Covet almost fell apart due to the alleged behavior, Young recalls: “I felt I had to do something really drastic or stick up for myself and surround myself with safer, more supportive people. Or just stop the project entirely.”
Fortunately, Young’s friends supported her after she told them about her allegations. Coming forward wasn’t easy, she reiterates.
“It’s been really demoralizing,” she says. “There’s no amount of money that you can put on getting your freedom and… feeling safe and free—and inspired to create. I felt like I was living under a dark cloud in my own project.”
Accordingly, Young decided to do “a lot of bold things” with Catharsis. She applied her self-taught, new knowledge of music production to the album she wrote.
“I want to be able to hear these songs and not be reminded of something really terrible,” Young says.
With the dark cloud slowly but surely moving out of the picture, Young immediately began beaming about Catharsis and her future plans for Covet. For the time being, though—and likely until the legal proceedings play out—she is still working under the specter of Covet’s past.
“Ultimately, I’ve been dealt this deck of cards, and I feel like I’ve made the most of what I have,” Young says. “It feels good that I didn’t crumble or (end Covet) entirely. Was it more expensive than it had to be? Yes—but, at the end of the day, you can’t put a price tag on having creative freedom and feeling safe. I am excited to get Catharsis out.”
Photo courtesy of Sara Phung
