Track by Track: Cove – A Conscious Motion

Kent heavy metal band, Cove released their sophomore EP, A Conscious Motion on March 23rd 2018. Below is a track by track walk-through by the band. Read our review of the EP here.

The band had this to say about the EP: “We wrote ‘A Conscious Motion’ with a view to writing an EP of songs for ourselves that were cathartic and personal. It deals with the struggles of members within the band, dealing with losing everything that you once lived for, to watching a part of someone else you love fade away,” reveals Cove Guitarist Pete Woolven, of their newly self-released sophomore. He continues: “We’re really proud of what we have achieved – our goal was to write an EP that didn’t sound like other heavy bands out there at the moment – to write an EP that sounds like Cove.”

You can stream the EP now via Spotify and Apple Music below. You can also pick up merchandise via BigCartel. Find out more/keep up to date with Cove news via their website, Facebook Page, Twitter, Instagram and watch some of their videos on YouTube.

1. Coincide:Collide

This was the last track to be written for the EP. The song went through multiple variations before we “Frankensteined” it into what it is now, experimenting with a few different structures before we settled on the final version of the song. After talking through lyrical ideas we knew we wanted to do something different to what we had done before, in terms lyrical inspiration and also the delivery and style of the vocals.

The themes tackled in all of our music are deeply personal and this one is no exception, it deals with losing loved ones, not always literally, but sometimes through distance or other illnesses other than physical. The song has a very eerie tone to it, something we’d never done before, and was a great chance to explore Ben’s clean singing, which we had spoken about prior to recording this song. It has all the elements that we had wanted to push further, so we felt like it was a great song for a first single, we kind of threw everyone into the deep end with it.

2. Solis

‘Solis’ is definitely a song that is very special to us. It was the first song that featured Ben on vocals and was a turning point for the band. We had written “Solis” and “All I Believe” around the same time with a group of other songs, but these two were the strongest and made the cut. We knew we wanted to take what we had done on our last EP and amplify it, make it sound bigger and write more chorus-based songs as opposed to 4 minutes of riffs and screaming. We’d spoken before about trying to include more melody in our music, and this song really bridges the gap between the roots of what the band was and what we are trying to achieve now.

3. All I Believe

‘All I Believe’ is a song about self-reflection, being able to look at the good and the dark parts of yourself, recognise them and accept them. The song was written at the same time as “Solis” and is probably the softest song we have in our catalogue so far, but still packs a punch. We had demoed the song before, but slightly changed it instrumentally when it came to recording the real thing, the only thing that didn’t change was the lyrics.

The first time we heard the lyrics for this track from Ben we were all stoked about them, in particular, the first verse with the intimate clean singing. This song was also written in the mindset of we wanted to write more dynamic songs, the quiet, melodic parts being really gentle, and the heavy parts blowing your head off.

4. Host

We’ve always been a fan of interludes/intros into tracks on records. We wanted to write something that breaks up the EP and can also be used in the set. On “A Conscious Motion” it’s the first time we’ve used more than one tuning, so having “Host” to be able to be played live whilst we change tunings makes our live show a lot more seamless.

5. Reflect:Resolve

Reflect:Resolve is our most collaborative effort to date. The song has parts written by everyone in the band and draws lyrical influence from every member. The main riff had been written for a while but once we had taken it to the rehearsal room, guitarist Ben Brazier came up with the end section. We’re all fans of different styles of music, in particular post-rock, which definitely has a strong influence on the end of this track.

The song was inspired by the imagery of ashes drifting through the air from a fire, that’s where the lyrics “drag me through burning ashes” originated from, and deals with the themes of what happens to us after death, in particular, the choices we make in what we want to happen with our bodies once we have died.