Well, 2017’s vault of music has been an impressive one all around. With the variety and intensity of sounds being unleashed all over the world, listeners can only rejoice with immediate glee. Of that collection, two such musicians have been helping in more ways than one on riding this musical wave. They are called the Overcoats and they are simply sublime. Made up of musicians Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell, the women are sure to win over fans well past 2018. The duo took time to talk a bit on their latest work and their ongoing progress in the musical space.
With the release of their first album, ‘YOUNG’, they are fresh out of the box musicians for the masses. “We’re excited to have our first album out in the world and be able to experiment and release more. We felt so much pressure, self-inflicted, to release something entirely cohesive. We were so possessive over each song and now I think we’re interested in using stranger sounds and new instruments. With our second album we’ll be less like helicopter parents and able to chill out a bit.”
Aesthetically, the creation always expands with each musical endeavor. “We’re moving into color! We’re on this pink pop vibe right now, after dealing with the challenge of recording ‘YOUNG’ and falling into a bit of a funk, we are feeling more like ourselves again… Wanting to be brighter and lighter… Lately we’re on a bit of a rock-kick. We just write what feels most true to us and right now that’s banging on guitars and attempting to shred.”
Their most recent work seems to be the apple of their eyes at the moment. “Our current pride and joy is our latest music video for I Don’t Believe In Us. We wrote the treatment and the screenplay for the video and just had this dream for it… All these amazing people, directors, producers and dancers made our dream into a reality. We wanted to tell a visually stimulating story about the disillusionment of relationships…”
Show goals remain realistically ambitious. “We really want to go to Australia and play Triple J’s ‘Like A Version’… We’ve loved watching other bands cover their favorite songs, and we can’t wait to try out our Australian accents… We’ve been practicing.” Unfortunately, even shows on familiar ground are not always ideal, “We played at Bowery Ballroom on the night of our single release, I Don’t Believe in Us. Hometown shows make us so nervous! We’re playing for lots of people we know which is often scary.”
Within the music world, they are enjoying every bit of it. “We feel lucky to be making music in this time. There are so many interesting bands right now and we’re lucky to be a part of the scene.” On top of that, music is not the only medium they rock out in. “[We enjoy] painting, drawing and printmaking… We love it all. Oh, and thrift shopping!
More music is well on the way and fans can have the chance to check these ladies out as soon as possible in 2018! “We’re writing new music, currently. We’re also going on tour with our loves Tennis for all of January!”
Jam on.
Give I Don’t Believe In Us a watch and a listen below:
