A new app that wants you to tell it how you feel, using electronic music

There’s certainly no shortage off apps that want you to tell them how you feel out there, be it in the guise of mindfulness or “mood journaling,” as is the case with UsTwo’s Moodnotes. But now there’s a new kid on the mental health app block, and it doesn’t just want you to write down how you feel, it wants you to express it through the medium of electronic music.

Which isn’t really such a bad idea. For those who find it hard to even know what they’re feeling, let alone put it into words, bleeps and bass and melodies can be a far more helpful tool. That’s what social tech company Humane Engineering hopes it can tap into with its new app Cove, designed by the agency’s founders Ivor Williams and Alex Rothera and designers Lewis Atkins and Fiona O’Leary.

“You can use Cove to capture your mood or express how you really feel. [You can] create simple, beautiful music loops, save them to your journal or share with someone else,” says Humane Engineering. “It’s a platform to play with the building blocks of music, without the need to know what they are or what they do. Cove provides the freedom to simply create.”

The app uses six “moods” as starting points, which users can then build upon to create their own sounds. The music was created by Chris Thompson, while Alejandro Santander headed up the development side of things. Our efforts have so far sounded more “oh no!” than Eno, but nonetheless, it’s a brilliant idea that removes the awkwardness and struggles that can come with trying to put difficult emotions into words.