THE EVOLUTION OF… Yvette Young

ONE OF THE MOST GIFTED AND INNOVATIVE GUITARISTS OF THE MODERN ERA EXPLAINS HOW SHE DEVELOPED A UNIQUE STYLE THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION, INTUITION AND PLAIN OLD-FASHIONED HARD WORK. AS YVETTE YOUNG SAYS: “MY TIME IS STILL VERY MUCH BASED AROUND IMPROVING”

- Amit Sharma

The last few years have witnessed the rise of some truly astonishing guitar talents from around the world – each striving to carve out their own identity through the instrument, in the hope of telling stories that have never been told. Few, however, have felt as exciting as Yvette Young.

The Californian Ibanez endorsee and founding member of Covet is someone who plays by her own rules, using alternate tunings, fingerpicking, two-handed approaches as core fundamentals to bring out the ethereal and progressive sounds in her mind. Having started out on classical piano and violin and later taken heavy influence from the more ambient soundscapes of shoegaze, she once jokingly described her genre as “detail rock”, though in all fairness it’s a term that fits quite spectacularly.

In this conversation with TG, she looks back on her journey so far – the main challenges starting out, the secrets behind her most complex passages, tips for the pedalboard and what the future may hold for her own sonic evolution...

When you were starting to get more creative with guitar, what felt like the biggest hurdles?