Overcoats.

At the Cobalt on Wednesday (June 14)

On their first visit to Vancouver, indie gal-pal duo Overcoats walked on-stage in—you guessed it—fashionable overcoats, positioned themselves at their floral-wrapped microphone stands, and gave their fans a show that celebrated friendship, family, and females, in a musical Venn diagram that hit the sweetest spots of all three.

The pair played all the hits from their 2017 album Young, a title that, judging by a look around the room, spoke to the demographic of the audience and the performers. The live tracks dialed back the electronic element of the music, showcasing the chemistry of Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell’s vocal harmonies, in a set that felt more like a late-night college dorm jam session than a live show at the Cobalt.

On the last show of a 55-day tour, the young women seemed to be feeling the love, for each other and their fans, and it showed in the tired but happy banter they peppered the set with. Mostly it was trivia about their origin story, how they met in college, the first song they wrote together, and their theory that they might be distantly related.

The two really don’t look anything alike, but watching them play together, hand each other drinks of water, and gush about the early days of their friendship, the idea of found families and sisterhood that’s reflected in their music was impossible to overlook.

“Female friendship is why we make music,” Elion told the crowd at one point, before launching into “Sirens”, a fast-paced song alluding to those mythological women who reeled sailors in with their irresistible voices.

On the closing night of their tour, Overcoats demonstrated a musical chemistry that’s only going to get better with time. Near the end of the set, standout coming-of-age ballad “Kai’s Song” presented the crowd with a quiet moment of kinship, and a question: “You were made for me, but will you wait for me?” The song rolled into the peaceful refrain, “Staring at my face in the mirror, are you coming back to me?”

Judging by the winding lineup of young fans waiting to meet the band at the end of the night, Vancouver’s willing to wait for Overcoats to come back to us, bringing whatever their musical project grows into.