When it comes to artists pushing themselves, you’ll find many of them follow a pendulous path, with their goals frequently alternating between something that’s technically impressive and something that represents the classic, back-to-basics approach. This subtle phenomenon occurs naturally in creative fields, or really any field at all if you consider a holographic / fractal universe, but… why?
Well, who knows really. So much else occurs over time that more often than not we get wrapped up in our own lives and lose sight of the greater cycles at play. But consider this – for creatives, it can be half the fun. You just have to be real about it.
Take Yvette Young for instance – with Covet, at first all anyone could talk about was how good she was at guitar. Then when Currents dropped, people were taken back by the striking, mature results, which was then contrasted by the lively, tap-happy Effloresce a couple years later. This saga continued for Covet until elements of every album came to a head on 2023’s obliterative Catharsis, combining the best of Young’s songwriting with the best of her technical abilities with a secret third thing – whatever the hell she wanted. Rather than implode the band she had worked so hard for in the face of lineup changes, Young put out a face-melting, emotionally raw statement that was still Covet to the core.
Since then, Young’s been more focused on solo material, a space that’s long been home to her more intimate style of songwriting. Generally she puts said material out between Covet albums, which has always made sense – why make more math rock than you have to when you’re not playing or writing for your math rock band? But since Catharsis, Yvette Young’s solo output has grown bolder all the time, bringing us to today’s smash hit, “Outta Sight, Outta Mind.”
If you’re into any kind of math rock, and you’re not afraid to bob your head to a little pop in causal settings, you owe it to yourself to check out Young’s latest single. It’s far from surface-level – sure, if you zoom out on the structure it’s not an algebraic equation, but the song’s fresh hyperpop sound and IDM-adjacent production keeps things busy and beautiful from start to finish.
Remember, “Outta Sight, Outta Mind” is hot on the heels of “Qi,” an ambient piece Young came up with using her new signature pedal with Walrus Audio, and that was already super close to the release of her meditative collaboration with Hatch, which was like half-an-hour long. Simply put, Young has been exceptionally busy, but to bring things full circle, Young has always been busy. What seems to be clicking now is Yvette Young’s ability to tap into her intuition, take a breath, and choose her own path.
Don’t forget to catch the music video for the song as well, which premieres tonight at 11PM EST:
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Check out the rest of the Yvette Young discography on Bandcamp here.
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