I have been searching for the perfect artist to act as my ‘debut review’ for my Random Reviews section of this blog. Thanks to my friend Nicole over at The Other Side Reviews, I have finally found the perfect band to review, one that I have never heard of or even listened to before she recommended them to me. The group I am speaking about is a band called The Covasettes. Normally I would start off by giving some background information on the artist at hand, where they’re from, information on the members and the style of music, however this time I wanted to take a different approach.
In the past I have reviewed artists I am very familiar with, and have been a fan of for years but the point of this section is to listen to an artist I have never heard of, or listened to prior to me writing this review. I have no biases or information that could cloud or change my judgement on a first listen. Because of this, the very first thing did was listen to their music, before even as much as looking at a photo of the group. I started with one of their tracks titled ‘Top Drawer.’ Right off the bat, the first thing that grasped my attention was the guitar and drum heavy instrumentals that encapsulated all of my senses. This track instantly brought me back to my teenage years, where I spent most of my time listening to artists such as Two Door Cinema Club, Arctic Monkeys, Catfish And The Bottlemen, and other artists within that realm. My initial thoughts on this track were “nostalgic summer banger.” Within the couple hours that have passed between my first listen and me getting my thoughts down onto paper, my feelings on that term still stand. This track is infectious, the vocals are soothing, unique and frankly just very catchy. Paired with a fun and upbeat melody, you truly can’t go wrong with this track. At this point, in my mind I am already very excited to see what else this band has in store for me.
As I familiarized myself a bit more with The Covasettes discography, I listened to tracks such as ‘This Feeling,” “Like You,” and “Twit Twoo.” I later learned that ‘Twit Twoo’ is the leading track off of their newest EP titled ‘It’s Always Sunny Above The Clouds.” This song in particular gave me major ‘Apollo’ by Last Dinosaurs vibes, and I mean that in the best way. It’s the type of track that makes you want to get up and dance around the house in an oversize t-shirt and underwear, total cliché indie film style, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard a track that makes me feel that way. Their music evokes a feeling of youth, it’s exactly what I’ve spent months looking for.
The final track I’m going to get into is one titled ‘She Is.’ At this point in my exploring I’ve gathered that most of, if not all of their tracks are guitar driven, and this one is no exception. The difference with this track is that it’s more of an acoustically driven little love tune. If you can imagine what it feels like falling in love for the first time, this track is basically the musical infestation of that feeling, and it’s absolutely lovely. A lot of people get it wrong when trying to be romantic or sentimental because they’re either afraid to be too vulnerable, or they are straight up just trying too hard. The Covasettes really get it right, they have this authenticity about them where you really believe what they’re saying, but even more than that it just feels so natural. The importance of authenticity in music can often times be overlooked and overshadowed by the want for radio play. These Covasettes don’t seem to let that mentality influence them and I really respect that about these guys.
After I spent some time learning what The Covasettes were about musically, I shifted my mindset towards getting to know them as individuals a bit more. The Covasettes are a four piece group consisting of Chris Buxton (vocals, guitar), Matt Hewlett (guitar), Jamie McIntyre (bass) and Matt Buckley (drums). Coming from Manchester, UK you can imagine they have some big shoes to fill in the world of music. So many larger-than-life bands were born into the Manchester music scene, Oasis, The Smiths, and The Stone Roses to name a few. You can definitely hear those influences in The Covasettes music, but with a more modern take that may be inspired from the more recent Manchester hailing bands of The 1975, Pale Waves and Blossoms.
In my research I came across this quote from frontman Chris Buxton commenting on the EP ‘It’s Always Sunny Above The Clouds” (credit to indiebuddie.com for the quote from the interview)
“To me, it’s the best piece of work we’ve ever done, each track gives you something different from the last, but they all come together to paint part of a bigger picture. It’s something we were really keen to achieve, we didn’t want to put four ‘random’ songs together and call it an EP, we wanted to create a journey that people can jump into and I really do feel we’ve achieved that. We’ve been consumed by this EP for the last 6 months, and we’ve been speaking about it for 6 months before that, so it feels so good to be finally putting it out. Every time we’ve had a spare few minutes we’ve been sat recording, tweaking and slaving over this EP and we couldn’t be more proud of it. It really feels like the next chapter for us, we’ve had an incredible start to 2019 and now we have this to propel us to the next level; I just can’t wait to see what everyone thinks to it… I’d be telling a lie if I said we weren’t all a little bit nervous.”
The most refreshing aspect of this group to is that even though they’re an indie band, they have this poppy charm about them in the sense that a lot of indie music has this ‘woe is me’ mentality. The indie scene has become so over saturated with this aesthetic that glamorizes these themes of constantly being in a state of negativity and sadness. This isn’t to say “don’t speak out on things your’re struggling with, and only write happy, poppy music”, but more to say don’t write dark music with the intent that this is what will get people to listen to you, write music that is genuine to your story and your truth. Don’t get me wrong, this tactic worked in 2014, but I feel as though to truly be able to showcase one’s talent you have to be capable of doing more than that to stand out, and The Covasettes have done that with flying colors. With The Covasettes it really feels organic. It just sounds like a bunch of friends getting together, doing what they love, and doing a damn good job at it.
With the realease of their new EP, ‘It’s Always Sunny Above The Clouds,’ The Covasettes have also announced their largest headlining tour to date which kicked off yesterday actually!
I’ve linked their website where tickets are being sold here https://www.thecovasettes.com/shows. Be sure to give these guys a listen, and buy some tickets to see them live if you’re in the area. I can’t stress the importance of supporting small, up and coming artists of any kind enough. This band has done a wonderful job of making themselves and their music very approachable.
The last thing I have to do to meet the criteria of this section I have created is leave an honest 1-5 rating. I can truly say I give these guys a 4.5 on that scale. Just in the hour or so I spent learning about them, I can say they’ve got a new fan, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings to The Covasettes.
Modernity Vs. Music with Kylee 