Chicago-based, indie rock band Blue Cove fuses ethereal shoegaze that is reminiscent of iconic '90s indie bands such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, with more modern lyricists like Taylor Swift. The band is composed of singer and songwriter Stephanie Nikolas and multi-instrumentalist Eric Breden.
The duo said they have been childhood best friends and grew up playing music individually but eventually started Blue Cove as a project during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Nikolas, music has always been a safe space for her to express her emotions, almost like a form of therapy. “I think that that's an undercurrent throughout all of my songwriting because songwriting is therapeutic and cathartic to me. So I tend to write about struggles that I've gone through emotionally, but I don't like to write from a bleak angle even though I do enjoy the dark parts. I also like to have an uplifting angle,” Nikolas said.
With honey-sweet vocals dripped over lush soundscapes, Blue Cove cites musical influences from Alex G, Angel Olsen and Pixies to reflect dreamy melodies.
During their creative processes, Nikolas said she starts with a rough rhythm and lyrics to build the bones of the song while Breden creates an electric production of soft hazes, harmonic elements and glints of hope during recordings.
“I do find the process ideal when [Nikolas] comes up with rhythm guitar and her singing,” Breden said. “I find it the most authentic in whatever crazy structure she writes, I just find a way to give it a backbone and bring it to life."
The healing energy behind Blue Cove’s music comes from Nikolas's real life, and discusses emotional resilience from overcoming past traumas in abusive relationships and mental health struggles in order to live a fulfilling life, Nikolas said.
“I think that [motivational themes] that's an undercurrent throughout all of my songwriting because songwriting is therapeutic and cathartic to me,” Nikolas said. “I tend to write about struggles that I've gone through emotionally, but I don't like to write from a bleak angle even though I do enjoy the dark parts. I also like to have an uplifting angle.”
Blue Cove’s debut single released on April 16, “Here You Come” represents a new person coming into one's life with sincere intentions.
“‘Here You Come” is a little bit more abstract. It's one of our more dreamy songs,” Nikolas said. “It's influenced by a shoegaze style, so the lyrics are equally as abstract and vague, but what I was trying to explore with the lyrics is having a new person come into your life that is not judgmental and they only like to bring love and positivity and your past kind of fades away.”
Breden said “Here You Come” is so vague because it’s open to interpretation for the listeners to form their own feelings and connections to the song.
Nikolas said music has always been a safe space for her to express emotions—similar to a form of therapy. Their debut album, Thrive is set to be released on May 16 and delivers a motivational message about overcoming intrusive thoughts and anxiety.
With its raw lyricism and dark undertones, Nikolas said, “Soothe” was the most vulnerable song to write because it paints a picture of trauma from a past relationship that can resurface and bring her to her knees.
“‘Soothe,” this is a very personal song to me,” Nikolas said. “It's about an abusive, toxic situation that I went through and it covers the feeling of giving so much to another person that you have very little energy left for yourself and being focused on fixing someone else's problems and being codependent and not focusing on your own emotions.”
Blue Cove’s music is ethereal and other-worldly as it transports listeners into the band’s diary where they can feel every bit of emotion and fearlessness of the lyrics. The powerhouse DIY duo is set to release their new singles “Here You Come,” “Thrive” and “Soothe” as sneak peeks for their upcoming debut album “Thrive” set to release later this year.
Nikolas said they titled the album Thrive, because it encourages listeners to work through traumas to thrive in life.
“I hope people take away the message of independence and empowerment,” Nikolas said.
For upcoming music releases and more music updates, make sure to follow Blue Cove band on their Instagram and stream their newest singles “Soothe,” “Thrive” and “Here You Come” on Spotify. Keep an eye out for the band’s debut record Thrive set to release later this year.
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