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Overcoats Find Harmony And Inspiration In One Another On Debut LP ‘Young’

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<p>(Photo: CPR / Daniel Mescher)</p>
<p>Overcoats</p>

Overcoats are emerging as one of the most exciting young bands of 2017. The New York duo recently performed at South By Southwest, appeared at NPR headquarters for a Tiny Desk Concert and landed an opening spot for Maggie Rogers' North American tour -- including a stop at Denver's Larimer Lounge last week.

More from OpenAir Sessions:

Overcoats brought their dreamy harmonies and synth-pop to the CPR Performance Studio before that show to perform a few songs from the forthcoming debut LP "Young." They also spoke with Alicia Bruce Mitchell about the band's origin story as students at Wesleyan University, bonding over a love of the Dixie Chicks and experimenting with their sound on "Young."

Stream the session and watch Overcoats perform "Leave The Light On" above.

Interview highlights:

Singer and programmer JJ Mitchell on writing two-part vocal harmonies:

"Often we do our best writing just sitting together and writing line by line each harmony. We know when something is right 'cause it feels like butter together."

Singer and guitarist Hana Elion on finding inspiration in one another:

"A huge part of our songwriting derives from empathy. A lot of the time we just get inspired by literally what the other is going through. The songwriting process is really based in friendship. JJ will be like: 'I'm feeling like this!' And then we'll work off that."

Songs performed:

  • "Hold Me Close"
  • "Leave The Light On"
  • "Kai's Story"