“Suddenly” It All Makes Sense: Musings on their House Show and Debut Album

By Nigist Feleke

Be That As It May by Suddenly

Suddenly’s celebratory album-release house show is ripe for wandering. Many colorful personalities to engage with, and a colorful pink bathroom to match. In the backyard is a deconstructed mute piano, a perfect conversation piece for house party chit chat. Inside are guitars and banjos on walls, another piano with the internal strings and hammers displayed front and center and friends maneuvering through the crowd to play clarinet, saxophone, cello and flugelhorn with the band at the end of their set.

After the harmonious close, Bobe Dugand, half of Suddenly, quietly mentions “It’s all for music.”, and it’s not hard to see or hear how true that sentiment is. Suddenly’s debut album Be That As It May is an optimistic introduction to Dugand’s and Will Hasell’s collaborative musicianship, and their house show was just as warm of a welcome.

Bobe Dugand bowing his guitar while Will Hasell (not pictured) plays piano.

Standing at 48 minutes, Be That As It May is a dynamic record filled with thought-provoking and thought-expanding acoustic songs. The genre is something folk, maybe indie-rock, not quite country and definitely experimental.

Bobe Dugand and Will Hasell are the two musicians behind the Gainesville-based acoustic duo. There’s no frontman; it’s an equal collaboration of two voices and two acoustic guitars. The unique instrumentation may appear sparse at first glance, but the clever arrangements and harmonies will make you wonder why anyone would bother adding anything else.

Seeing Suddenly live is like watching a masterclass in partnership. The duo seamlessly blends their voices and interweaves guitar melodies to create an emotional musical concoction that sounds effortless and effective. The vibes are cozy yet reverent; the audience sits on the floor, attending to each note made in front of the flower-ornamented blinds. The atmosphere, however, is anything but intimidating. During a rare moment when the pair stumbles, Hasell and Dugand make a knowing glance at each other, then the audience, inviting a gentle giggle for those who know the song.

Will Hasell and Bobe Dugand

Their performance skills are evenly matched by their songwriting sensibilities, crafting songs like “Terminal” that are simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful. With lines like “You’re like your own devil now” followed later with a correction–“but there is hope of return, to pull yourself up out of the earth, try to relearn who you are, there’s a healer behind the scar.” The song finishes with an unexpected latter section, unfolding into one of the most angular and angry moments on the record.

Dugand and Hasell’s songs have this trait in common. If the songs were personified, they’d be coy, slow to reveal their true essence until suddenly, it all makes sense. "Periphery", a meditation on perception and the unknown, is an example of this. The robotic rhythmic ostinato and spoken verses don't hint at the singable chorus and outro that are soon to come. (Anytime you get the opportunity to hear Suddenly perform this song, listen for the soft voices in the crowd singing along, “Looking past periphery / I see colors / Bleed to one.”)

Along the course of each song, and the course of the album, tension ebbs and flows into release in ways that are unorthodox, yet satisfying – like in the brief departure from the acoustic towards more electronic synths in interlude, “Birth.” For the inattentive listener, it may take a bit to get to the musical culmination or “a-ha” moment of some of these songs. Please don’t let that deter you though. Whether through production, songwriting or arranging, Suddenly manages to keep the songs engaging and interesting, with choices that feel grounded and true.

Their house show and debut album both display an earnest passion for music that is allowed to blossom through a strong friendship between collaborators. With common themes of returning home throughout the album, listening to Be That As It May feels like a nostalgic memory of good days passed, with optimism for what’s to come. Leaving the grasps of Suddenly, whether you’re walking past the open piano on your way out the front door, or listening to the album's sweet and romantic closer “My Deep Love”, you can’t help but hope you’re invited back.

Friends of Suddenly pictured left to right: Jack Edmondson, James Hasell, Marin Schrack, Robert Edmondson, Geetha Velusamy.

If you’d like to hear more about the album from Will and Bobe themselves, I’ll be dropping an interview with them soon, so look out for it.