laurenswhipple

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The song “Coats” by Aldous Harding is the last song on her 2026 album Train on the Island. It is a guitar-heavy track that has been categorized by critics as “spritely cowpunk.” In the background there is a throaty call sounding like an ethereal chorus. The chorus is a refrain that once you hear it, it will earworm deep into your mind and leave you wondering what you’ve been listening to, what does it mean, and why can’t you let it go. That is why I chose the song to share with you all. I found Aldous’ music here in the past few months and it has become my go-to album, with this song in particular being a favorite.

By her own testimony, understanding her lyrics isn’t meant to be on the artist. From a 2022 piece from her own site about songwriting we find:

She has said that her writing process is partially one of “dissociation,” and described herself as a “song actor,” writing songs as roles to be performed or exorcized. She has also said that she conceives of lyrics not as poetry but as phonics—abstract smears on a spacious canvas, the sound of a word superseding its definition.

But for the sake of this essay I must try and share my perspective. In the lyrics of the song we find that in the first verse she goes from hairspraying waves into her hair and within four lines she is ironing the waves down. The tension between desire is found in I’ll eat if you’re next to me, filling up the silence in the dark, but then: is the receiver ready to meet this woman? What do you say, when you meet blue women? On the cover of the album it shows the artist with a face painted blue like a kachina figure—is it a deeply mysterious spiritual reference or evocative of sadness? Why not both?

The repeating theme of the song has to do with giving dogs heavy winter coats, which they obviously do not need.

Often we are helping or receiving help from other people that really just doesn’t land, because it may be heavy-handed or unnecessary. This song is a refreshing and haunting way of feeling that reality to music and mystery.

To me the music is calling, haunting, mysterious, unstoppable—and if you listen to it too you may find the same.