Gavin Coates has been working. Quietly, seriously, for about two years. And in that time he wrote and produced seventeen albums under the name 99 Coats. Not demos. Albums. All before he made any real push to get them heard.
That’s not a flex. It just tells you what kind of artist you’re dealing with.
Based in Maryland, Coates is a painter and gallery founder, the person behind the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art. That background matters because 99 Coats doesn’t feel like a music project, not exactly. It feels like a system. Artwork, cinematic videos, performances, interconnected media. The songs are part of something bigger and he’s been building that thing in the dark.
“Coastline” is where the lights come on.
It’s a song about chasing summer. About freedom and those moments that feel like they’ll stretch on forever even when you know they absolutely won’t. Nostalgic and cinematic. Not in the way that word usually gets thrown around in press releases. This one actually earns it. And more than anything it’s an invitation into a project that’s been quietly taking shape for years and is finally ready to be shared.
The seventeen albums move through alternative rock, post-punk, electronic, and pop. That range doesn’t feel scattered though. His process was shaped as much by visual art as by conventional songwriting, and you can feel that logic running through all of it.
Live, the project surfaced first at Consciousness Coffee in December 2025. Then came an appearance on Live Music Review Podcast’s “Live from Fayettenam” in January 2026, and radio play for “Life Raft” on OTAT24/7 Radio and KZSM San Marcos. Small moves, deliberate ones.
“Coastline” signals something more focused. Taking the strongest work from an unusually large body of albums and giving each release a proper visual identity, actual attention, the kind of care it deserves. That’s the phase the project is in now.
Seventeen albums in the background. “Coastline” at the front. It’s a good place to start.
Stream Coastline on Spotify
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