Johanna Hvidtved
The Opener is The FADER’s short-form profile series of casual conversations with exciting new artists.
Snuggle's debut album, Goodbyehouse, is the product of a period of uncertainty. Separately, Andrea Thuesen and Vilhelm Strange were experiencing the kind of shifts that happen in young adulthood — the end of a signifcant employment situation, the sale of a family home — that aren't quite landmark events but still represent a change in the firmament of life. It's in these times that we turn to familiarity for comfort. For Thuesen and Strange that is the intersection of bittersweet pop songs and gloomy indie rock. To snuggle may be an intimate act but, listening to Goodbyehouse it feels like more of a protective stance. This is music to shelter to.
While there is reassurance to be found in this kind of closeness, Snuggle don't just peddle in nostalgia. The band attended the same Copenhagen music school as ML Buch and Erika de casier, while Goodbyehouse was released via the Danish capital's premier label Escho (home to Smerz, Astrid Sonne, and Elias Rønnenfelt). Like their fellow countrymen, Snuggle trade in an existential strain of songwriting that speaks to the very modern sensation of hurtling through life with no guard rails. That lack of control bleeds though on "Sticks" when Thuesen sings “Yeah, I’m broken.” “Dust,” meanwhile, is their “love song for an apocalypse.”
Throughout the album breakbeats and cut-glass melodies scythe through the fog, beams of light that guide a way forwards. As the album progresses Snuggle cycle through romances, break-ups, road trips, and summer's that feel endless until, inevitably, the rain comes down. It's an album delivered from uncertainty with one guarantee; that things have to keep moving forwards as standing still is tantamount to death.
We asked Snuggle for some photos from behind-the-scenes of their recent time on tour and got their opinions on bad life advice, the cooking hack they swear by, a Hitchcock classic, and other hot topics.
Describe the first show you ever went to
A: The first concert I remember going to by myself, and with that I mean not accompanied by my dad, was The Cure when I was maybe 13 years old. My friend and I went to the venue really early to make sure we’d get a spot close to the stage. When the doors opened we ran for it. I really had to pee but didn’t have time to go to the can. Turned out it was a four hour marathon concert and because we were right in front of the stage and stuck in the crowd, I had to pee in a cup twice. I felt so rock’n’roll, loved every minute of it.
What was the last movie you watched, and give a short review.
A: I watched Psycho for the first time the other night. What a trip. Not my fav Hitchcock but man, Anthony Perkins in the role as Norman Bates is one of the best on-screen acting performances I’ve seen.
What’s a motto that you think everyone should live by?
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?
A friend once said to me “you can’t wear too much aftershave”
What’s your favorite song to play live right now and why?
V: I think it’s a tie between "Water in a Pond" and "Driving me Crazy." There’s a melancholy and nostalgia to Water in a Pond that makes me feel close to the song and audience in a certain way- it’s difficult to describe. Performing it live feels very wholesome. "Driving me Crazy" slaps, it’s so much fun to play. A rollercoaster ride.
What’s the best thing you’ve bought yourself recently and why?
A: A rice cooker. I’m not particularly good at boiling stuff especially not rice. I never seemed to get it right and it became a bit of an obsession for me. A friend advised me to buy a rice cooker. Changed my life, perfect rice every time.
Describe the best show you’ve played this year so far.
V: We played this cozy little record store in a small Danish town called Faaborg. Honestly, we were a bit nervous that no one would show up - in smaller cities, especially with publicly funded venues, it can be tough to draw a crowd when people don’t really know who you are. But this place only fit about 30 people, and when we arrived, the super kind folks running it told us it was sold out. The atmosphere was so warm and intimate that we ended up turning it into this sort of half-concert, half-comedy show - just joking around, telling stories, and feeling totally at ease with everyone there.
What was the last creative idea you had that made you ask, ‘Can we do that’?
V: Rehearsing for a show recently, we learned that our drummer Bjarke plays the transverse flute. We tried it out on the track “Goodbyehouse”, hoping it wouldn’t sound too Jethro Tull or Mamas and the Papas .. it totally did. Which we totally dug and we went with it. Probably for the first and last time.
Forward us the last meme that made you laugh.
