The Grey Pants

The duo Henk Koorn and Elke van Zevenbergen form The Grey Pants, a receptive and charming project in which both songwriters magnify the seemingly trivial aspects of life into beautiful windowsill songs. The sound palette has (deliberately) remained limited: a rhythm box, guitar, and two voices. Despite these simple ingredients, each song possesses a specific character and story.

The duo's first album, It Was From My Nephew but Now It’s Mine, debuted in 2018 under their own management, and less than a year later, their second album, We Love Ria, was released on Excelsior Recordings. The Grey Pants creates music in one of the rare genres that has remained untouched by time: twee pop, as known from Stereolab or The Pastels—but through the lens of Henk and Elke. On February 14, 2025, the duo will release their new album on Excelsior Recordings.

Listening to the new work of The Grey Pants, you feel as if you are outside under the awning of a small bookstore, sheltering from the rain. A man walks by with a huge briefcase. Documents fall out. Further down, students bike by with hunched shoulders through the descending wetness. It’s chilly, but you’ve just bought a book you’ve been searching for a long time, and the baker’s dog sniffs happily at your soaked pants.

The skies are clearing up again.