Overcoats-Nighttime Hunger

Mood Monday

Today, my mood is all over the place. My mood has changed so dramatically from the moment I woke up this morning to now, when my Monday has officially come and gone.

I have this new, totally weird pattern of waking at 4am. I don’t get it and force myself to rest my eyes until I fall back asleep. It is so odd and leaves me so drained the next day. I have started staying up later, thinking that will make me sleep deeper. But, I still seem to stir at the 4 am hour. It really doesn’t seem to matter what I do to try and change it.

Curiosity about this unwanted pattern had me falling down the digital hole of Google. Through the search feed, I found a wild amount of articles on Chinese Medicine and the connection of waking, with your Meridian Clock and different organs in the body. For me, a 4am wake up is connected with my lungs and suggests I may be experiencing grief, sadness, or loss. Perhaps, I should pay closer attention and take better care of my mental health, and my internal spirit.

I could use a bit more happiness right now. Life can be difficult at times, and it makes it even harder when loved ones are grappling with more than any human should ever have to endure.

Because my mood is a bit off today, I have spent hours listening to all kinds of music.  I was feeling unsatisfied with the music choices and my moods as they continued to change.

Well, until I came upon this track.

This song reminds me of the electronic loops, and lovely vocals of Sylvan Esso. Fresh and beat driven, the ‘folktronic’ sound of Overcoats won me over today.

Overcoats-Nighttime Hunger

“Nighttime hunger it’s at me like
I’m supposed to be alone
Wish that he could fill me up
So that I could feel whole
Now there is something keeping me from falling asleep
Then each morning pulls me from the deep…”

Photo Credit: Dusdin Condren

Overcoats are a New York based duo, Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell. They met at Wesleyan University and forged a deep friendship and musical connection. Each of their songs has minimal instrumental distraction and flourishes in soft, lovely harmonies. As explained on their website,

“More than just a band, Overcoats is a friendship, an artistic duo whose songwriting is musical empathy that verges on telepathy. The two have a clear vision of the sound they want to make together – they operate under one creative impulse. Their name comes from the strength they find in making music together. Like an overcoat, Hana and JJ’s music is as much about the armor they create for themselves through their art as it is about the vulnerability beneath.”

With their newest tune “Nighttime Hunger”, there is a promise of new material and an upcoming album release. Hurray! I have played their last EP, on constant repeat and I need some new material for my ears. Similar to their other songs, “Nighttime Hunger” hints at relationship. But, with further clarification in a recent interview, they explained that it really is about your relationship with yourself instead of with another person. It expresses a vulnerability and connects it with that middle of the night emptiness.

Perhaps tonight as I fall asleep, I can focus on my many blessings and joyous moments over the course of my day. I am thankful for friendship and family connections, my puppy that wags her tail when I walk in the room, a cool evening on my porch writing about the music I love, and maybe I can even add, the happy possibility someone out there might like the music I share!

Good night, y’all

zzzzzzzzzz