Track By Track: Coves on Peel

John Ridgard and Beck Wood are also streaming the record in full on Best Fit, and you can hear it at the bottom of the page.

The band's second record Peel is out 1 April on 1965 Records. They're playing London's Dalston Victoria on 6 April to support the release.

Peel is rife with thundery riffs, thumping rock beats, and abyssal hooks that dig in and don't let go. Sometimes it saunters into mystical lands with reckless abandon, and sometimes it sticks its teeth in and doesn't let go, no matter how hard you thrash about.

Coves explain just how they made those sounds, and the inspirations for each track - ranging from rumbly bellies to grumpy Londoners - in their detailed companion piece. Listen to recent single "You're Evil", and then check out the Track By Track guide afterwards.

Cadavalier

John Ridgard: This was the first song I started working on for the new album. I hadn’t moved in to my new place in London yet, but we had moved out of our old studio in Leamington, so I just had my laptop and guitar and recorded a large part of this in the corridor outside the downstairs toilet in a shared house I was crashing in. It’s a bit of a story of someone who feels totally trapped in a mundane life to the point it becomes like domestic abuse, but then when they close their eyes everything explodes with colour and they have a whole magic imaginary place where they live alone at night.

Beck Wood: This song was a question mark for me for a while.. I was like "John umm what the heck does 'Cadavalier' mean and how do you say it?" I'm severely dyslexic and John is making up words, thanks John! The day he got me round to hear the track I was excited, I really like the build of the song, its a totally different sound from what the first album sounded like so I was bouncing around… like a child on a raspberry Panda Pop (you know, the bright blue one?).

You’re Evil

Ridgard: I bought a fuzz pedal and made this song. It got shelved for many months as I was messing around and sang the chorus to the song by the mid 2000s one-hit-wonder band The Bravery over it, I completely ruined it for myself for a long time. The demo of this ended up being really scratchy and raw but when we took it to the studio Cam brought it right out of its shell and made it sound like an explosion. Now I love this song, but sometimes I think about that weird looking guy stood on the front of his boat and get sad (see video to The Bravery's 'Honest Mistake').

Wood: I got very excited about this song when John got me in the studio to listen to the track for the first time. I know it’s a good track when I make up lyrics in my head on the first listen. When we wrote the lyrics to this one, I didn't really know what it meant or where the words were coming from, but listening to the finished song I can see it’s my subconscious still coming out to shine on my ex-relationship (sorry Gaz). My Ex is now my best mate.

Tripping Over Lust

R: Writing this was the first time I've collaborated with anyone other than Beck for a while, but I sent our good friend and bassist, Malcolm, a six minute drum loop and he returned it with the bassline and arrangement. It’s a subtly really weird bass line, there are all these notes that shouldn’t really be there. Me and Cam (producer) pretty much lost our shit one afternoon trying to work out them notes in the studio so we could write the organ parts... but it pushed me to do something different and because of that it’s probably my favourite on the record.

W: This track is one of my favourites to sing. When we recorded it in Cam's studio, I just thought F it I'm going to give this one my all. It was the last one we recorded for the album, and when I came out the room into the control room and was greeted by sad faces I thought 'What the frig have I done...', but they were all happy tears (apparently) so I instantly knew I sang it the way I wanted the song to sound.

Stormy

R: This was such a quick, throwaway song. I think I decided I just really didn’t want to give a crap about engaging my brain that day, I just wanted to turn everything up loud and make a racket for fun. But then at the end of the day I really liked it so sent it to Beck to do her thing.

W: "Stormy" is one of our oldest songs on the album (just cos I say it’s the oldest doesn't mean I don't love it) we wrote it I think in November 2014. "Stormy" was also the first track we did with Cam, so it was all very new for me and equally exciting, specially as this was the first track we did with a full kit, with Matt Racher (the amazing session drummer man) on the drums, I instantly knew we had found something special with the new sound for this album.

To The Sea

R: I had to go to Whitley Bay one day, it was raining, all the shops were shut, and there was a boarded up building that looked like it was once an old music venue with a big dome roof. Outside the council had commissioned an engraving on the wall that said ‘Oh Whitley Bay Dome, you were like the Taj Mahal to us…’ it seemed like the saddest thing I had ever read. I walked down to the beach and got attacked by a swarm of flies.

W: As we were all saying when we were in the studio recoding this song... Get In The Sea. This song to me has balls and softness at the same time. I can’t really remember when me and John started putting it together, maybe that was one of our 'studio times' where I drink a little to much Red wine (it happens).

SEEMELOVEME

R: This was written in summer sun. I think it sounds like the sun is playing all over this track.

W: Yeah, this track reminds me of the summer. The way the second half of the song repeats and flows into each other, gives me feelings of sipping on an ice-cold bevvy on the grass with the sun beating down on my face, having giggles with your mates.

I Just Don’t Care

R: When we play this song I think of Mr. Soft from the Softmints advert. He looks so comfy. He is clearly made out of a pillow though, so why wouldn’t he be? Discuss.

W: So this song was a song I got told to "Let It Go" on... Lorna Blackwood (aka magic music lady Lorna) who was doing vocal production on the album told me to just go wild on the "I just don’t care" part. This was nothing I had ever really done before, but I was more than happy to. I love singing the chorus.

So Empty

R: The music was written in the darkest heaviest 'cloud of doom' hangover after James Endeacott's legendary 50th birthday. I had been listening to a song called "Filthy" by Saint Etienne that morning, it led to a few days of binge listening to Big Beat, which was around the time I was working on this and the last two.

W: This is not about being hungry. Ha. John don’t forget my Birthday which is the day after James', was also to blame! I think that week both our bodies, minds, and bank accounts got taken for a ride, but it pays off (sometimes) as we wrote this album contender.

R: It's about being hungry... for food... not metaphorical...

I'm Not Here

R: This is a proper downer. It was written in a fug of confusion. One of those times where you wake up in the night a realise that all the plans are falling apart and decide that everything is going wrong and you become so self-obsessed that you live in a constant cycle of inner-self-hate monologue and though you are physically still sat with friends you are actually not there at all, you are in a little mental prison you have built yourself being tortured. That kind of thing.

W: I love this even though it’s a depressing song. It’s got a real '90s feel to it. So thanks John for being such a downer. My shit Midlands accent comes out so much in this song, so watch out for all the words that sound funny.

Tongue Ties

R: This was one of the first songs we wrote for this album. We had just moved to London and listening to it now, it sounds like we were pretty freaked out. I know I was, I move at about half the speed of most people in the street, all of a sudden everything had gone in high speed and everyone was shouting.

W: Ohhh the London shocks! I'm still getting use to the crazy high speed chase people do day to day to still be late for work because someone was walking down the side of the stairs that you wanted to walk up, or the tube stops for 10 more seconds at the stop you were getting on. Some times people just need to slow down... oh, and smile!

R: The whole of London needs to get on anger management and valium.

Peel is out 1 April on 1965 Records. It follows 2014's debut LP Soft Friday.