Photos by Lauren Kim
You’d probably drive past Zebulon without thinking twice. Just past a bridge and nestled between two freeways, Zebulon’s plain white facade houses a dimly lit bar. Inside, scattered conversations hum over the muffled sound of music. Enter the back room, and you’ll find a routine gathering spot for music lovers in Los Angeles, from blunt-banged twentysomethings to oldheads that have seen every show at the bar for countless consecutive weekends.
On Friday evening, Zebulon hosted Snuggle’s sold-out Los Angeles debut. The ambient dreampop band is based in Copenhagen, Denmark – home of the trip hop revival and some of the hottest acts in independent music. Snuggle is deeply entwined with other critically acclaimed Danish artists, attending the same music school as ML Buch and Erika De Casier, and signed under the same label as Smerz, Astrid Sonne, and Elias Rønnenfelt.
Snuggle could’ve blended in with the crowd they were playing for. The two-piece band, composed of Andrea Thuesen Johansen and Vilhelm Strange, was unassuming at first glance. Johansen wore a zip-up with bermuda shorts and mesh socks, while Strange sported a pair of jeans and a vintage tee.
The stage was humbly decorated. Two mic stands, two guitars. A Persian rug at center stage. No fancy lighting. The right wall displayed two t-shirts printed with the band’s latest album art: SNUGGLE, in stretched font. A small disco ball twinkled above the growing crowd.
Snuggle dispelled any notions of simplicity the second they started playing. Their debut album, Goodbyehouse, is a project that rewards noticing. The Fader has deemed the September release a thoughtful “intersection of bittersweet pop songs and gloomy indie rock,” referring to the album as “music to shelter to.”
Hearing “Sun tan” live brought me back to right where I first heard the song – leaning on the train window to Nara Deer Park. The humidity in Kyoto had left my skin slick and my hair stuck to my forehead. As my favorite track off Goodbyehouse, “Sun tan” has summer nostalgia – heat exhaustion included – baked into it.
Despite the sweet memories, the song is marked by an unshakeable melancholia, from the moaning bass line to Johansen’s hushed, breathy vocals. The marriage of tenderness and grief is shaping up to become Snuggle’s niche. In the chorus, Johansen and Strange sing,
“Sorry, that I let you down /
I never thought it’d turn out this way /
Should’ve kept it short and sweet, I know /
I got carried away”
Bittersweetness is laced in Snuggle’s origins. Both members were previously in other bands – Johansen as Baby in Vain’s vocalist and Strange as Liss’ guitarist. Liss disbanded in 2021 after lead singer Søren Holm committed suicide, a loss that almost led Strange to quit music entirely.
Goodbyehouse channels the grief of its creators into a quiet earnestness. The project captures grief in all its forms, from an all-consuming melancholy to the fragile hope of new beginnings. Johansen and Strange soften their sorrows through their music– Goodbyehouse stands as a testament of the musicians finding each other to lean on and push forward.
Guitar sounded through the Zebulon for the final song of the night, “Dust.” As one of the Goodbyehouse prerelease singles and one of their most popular songs, “Dust” is a song about impermanence. No matter how constant the heartache feels, Johansen and Strange say, we all return to the earth. Despite the morbid lyrics, the band’s acceptance of mortality becomes strangely comforting. Johansen and Strange’s songwriting shines in lines like:
“Ash trails on your skin /
My fingers following them /
The wall paint is melting /
These four walls, all they contain /
Is gone /
It’s gone /
Burning cities, cicadas silent /
Everything is dying (Everything is dying)”
Before the final chorus, the guitar builds to a climax and floods the room. Johansen repeats, “Ashes to ashes,” leaving the crowd at the Zebulon stunned. The song fades out. Snuggle says thank you, goodbye. They don’t linger.
My friend, moved by their performance, taps someone who grabbed a setlist and asks for the name of the final song. We follow the crowd, filing out of the back room into Zebulon’s back patio. Our eyes, adjusting from darkness to dimness, take in the sight of huddles smoking in schoolchairs. Even outside the venue, the final refrain of “Dust” is yet to settle. Snuggle’s carefully constructed universe had the crowd ready to curl up with their thoughts.
Listen to Goodbyehouse!
