Characterized by complex song structures and guitarist Yvette Young’s unique finger-tapping style, instrumental band Covet quickly earned a devoted following with their exploratory math rock sounds. Coming from a background in piano and violin, Young first developed her two-handed guitar-tapping style as a solo artist, but in 2014 she added a rhythm section and formed Covet. Young’s virtuosic playing and the band’s searching, organic-sounding instrumentals developed as their fan base grew, becoming more involved over the course of several EPs and reaching full realization with their 2020 debut full-length album, Technicolor. Covet was formed in 2014 by California guitarist/composer/multi-instrumentalist Yvette Young. Young grew up playing piano and violin and eventually applied elements of technique for both instruments to guitar, coming up with a two-handed tapping style that incorporated different approaches from classical music and math rock. While living in Los Angeles in 2009, Young began uploading videos of herself playing online, slowly gaining attention and fans for her virtuosic playing. In early 2014, she released an EP called Acoustics under her own name, but started the band upon moving back to her home of San Jose in the fall of that year. Covet’s original lineup included Young on guitar, bassist David Adamiak, and drummer Ben Wallace-Ailsworth. Unlike Young’s gentle acoustic material (which sometimes included vocals), Covet’s instrumental sound was derived from post-rock composition and math rock intricacy. The group played around San Jose for about a year, with Wallace-Ailsworth leaving the band, replaced by Keith Grimshaw. The trio released their first EP, Currents, in December 2015. Touring and various promotional video sessions ensued, including a stop by Audiotree for a live session. Grimshaw left the band and drummer Forrest Rice took his place for the recording of a six-song album called Effloresce, which saw release in July 2018. The following year, Covet issued the three-song EP Acoustics, which featured a new song, “Predawn,” and acoustic renditions of two Effloresce tracks. “Predawn” would appear again in a more electrified reading featuring special guest Phillip Jamieson on Covet’s first proper full-length, Technicolor. The album was released in June 2020 and featured ten songs, the longest and most involved collection of the band’s music to be released up until that point. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi

Born out of true friendship and an aptitude for healthy catharsis, Austin’s Hikes anchored by the technical, emotive songwriting of Filipinx naturalist Nay Wilkins honors the love found in tight communities. Hikes’ newest full length, ‘Mahal Kita,’ is the Tagalog term for “I Love You.” As Nay’s mother’s native language, the album is dedicated to the unrelenting will to make it through trauma while retaining the empathy and compassion that Nay learned from their Mother, and how Hikes is the vessel for implementing those ideals. The album follows the spectrum of hardships throughout the two years leading up to it and follows suit dynamically: from the ethereal pop opener of the album, reintroducing member Claire Puckett (Mother Falcon), to ‘extra mile’; featuring the bombastic technical prowess of long running members Colin Jenkins (Bass) and Chris Long (Drums), as well as marimbas from The Kraken Quartet. 
 Lilt, the group’s previous album recorded in Tokyo with Takaaki Mino (Toe), offers a wealth of interwoven guitar work, dense lyricism, and a pulsing rhythm section. Recounting Wilkins nearly losing their dad, losing touch with nature, memories of a missing best friend, and everything in between, Lilt is experimental indie rock bursting with a humbled hopefulness. The album took the band to a world audience; selling out shows across Japan, Europe, and the U.S. With the original quartet reformed, you can expect to see Hikes in one of its many forms coming to a city near you.

Based out of the bustling New Jersey music/college town of New Brunswick, alternately soaring and hard-hitting post-rock five-piece Gates formed in 2011 around the talents of guitarist Dan King, bassist Mike Maroney, Daniel Crapanzano, guitarist Ethan Koozer, and guitarist/vocalist Kevin Dye. Employing a heady blend of math-tinged post-hardcore, indie rock, ambient pop, and emo, the group issued a pair of EPs (The Sun Will Rise and Lead Me Home [2011] and You Are All You Have Left to Fear [2013]) before inking a deal with Pure Noise Records, which reissued the EPs as well as Gates’ debut long-player, Bloom & Breathe, in 2014. In 2016, Gates returned with their sophomore full-length album, Parallel Lives, featuring the single “Habit.” ~ James Christopher Monger