Image: Tesse & Huck Hastings – supplied.
Author: Bradley Cork
Huck Hastings and Tesse team up for the tender yet hopeful ‘Unreasonable Doubt’, a song that reveals its unravelling beauty with each listen.
In music, timelessness isn’t something that can be forced. However, when songwriters are able to harness this intangibility, it can provide a level of trust with an audience that is rare. Tom Stephens who plays under the project name Tesse and Harrie Hastings, who plays under the moniker Huck Hastings, are two singer-songwriters based in Sydney/Gadigal Country, both of which put out albums in 2021 that covered an array of emotions and topics (Everything Trying and Cheers To Progress respectively) and both have teamed up for the joint single ‘Unreasonable Doubt’; a song that feels like it could exist now, 30 years ago or in 30 years’ time. It was wonderful speaking to both of them about what instigated them teaming up, their mutual admiration for one another, a productive weekend in Melbourne, and the importance of community to anyone engaging in artistic practice.
Tom and Harrie met when they were both doing a support slot on Oxford Street’s now-defunct Brighton Up Bar circa 2017. Although it would take time to cross paths again, Harrie mentions hearing the Tesse tune ‘Earthworms’ blaring out of speakers at a bar: ‘Yeah, we didn’t really see each other again for a long time after 2017 but when hearing that song, I thought ‘Tesse, who is this?!’ I didn’t realise it was Tom at first but then I put two and two together and bought the record.’ The two then connected through mutual friends and their shared love of songwriting and aesthetics. With lockdown easing up during 2020, the two caught up to show what the other was working on which eventually led to Tom directing the video for Huck Hastings’ ‘The Clincher’, as Harrie explains: ‘Tom showed me ‘Better than I’ll Be’ and I showed him ‘The Clincher’ and I asked him if he could make a video for me and that kicked off…’ Tom explains how working together created a quicker bond: ‘that’s kind of the first time we collaborated on something together. As soon as you start collaborating, it kind of ramps up the friendship or relationship.’
‘The Clincher’ came out as a single from Cheers To Progress, a break up album that chronicles all the trials and tribulations that can go with the beginning and end of a relationship followed by a rediscovery of one’s autonomy. ‘The Clincher’ was a song that Tom felt strongly about to help Harrie bring to fruition as a video: ‘I’ve heard it countless times from working on the clip but it still hits…just the simplicity of it and the repeated ‘I miss…’ a repeated line that hits so hard with all the small details that are mentioned.’ Both Tom and Harrie have a respect for each other’s approach that tends to be slightly different yet they meet in the middle, as Tom mentions: ‘I think Harrie has a real fearlessness and a beautiful sense of play. He’s a person that I admire in the way where he just goes ‘fuck it let’s do it’ he doesn’t overthink or over assess…fearless in his approach and in his vulnerability too which is a real gateway to connection with his audience but I think Harrie really lays it all out on the table for all to see.’ Harrie mentions his admiration of the way Tom can look at the external and interpret it in his own way: ‘I just think he’s very clever, I think he has a very authentic sense of his own view of the world and his sensibilities and I think he is driven to action so it’s really fun to work with someone like that. And I think we have a similar sensibility in terms of the things that we find beautiful… You wouldn’t expect someone who is so focused on such finer details to be so driven to make all this art about it…it’s the drive with the meditative simplicity which is a nice contrast.’
With this mutual respect and appreciation in tandem with their video collaboration, it was inevitable that the two would work on something musically. ‘Unreasonable Doubt’ was initially a sketch that originated with Tom before he and Harrie quickly embedded the structure and lyrical ideas then finally deciding on the instrumentation, as Tom recalls: ‘I had the progression and I had the vocal melodies essentially. There’s often this feeling of having a progression and melody and it’s hitting hard but if you wait too long to attach words to it, it loses its spark a bit and you miss the moment or something…so then I thought it would be great to bring Harrie in and we hadn’t tried writing a song together yet…I thought the mood of it suited Harrie and I’s ways.’ Harrie recalls the initial demo having the melodies intact without the lyrical content completed with mumbles being initially in place: ‘I feel like there were a lot of hints in that initial demo and the mumble, then we were going back and forth with it. That kind of helped with working out a process of incorporating some strange lines into it. It was fun and it was done in an afternoon so it was pretty quick and felt organic.’
The two share a slightly different focus around the song’s lyrics as Tom explains how the song developed quickly into a meditative lament of parting ways with a significant other: ‘it felt like we were relating over the idea of fragmented memories post separation in a relationship…that feeling of like you’re seeing the person everywhere you go and maybe that comes from a place of fear initially.’ Harrie mentions his favourite part is the final few lines that maintain a distant hope moving forward: ‘It’s quite interesting when you write a song together because you’ve got your own interpretation of what things mean. The triumphant part of the song that goes ‘I’ve been building, building slowly / come undone before, get back knowing me,’ the idea in that moment where you recreate yourself and step out. I love the lift in the song at the end.’
After some demo versions were traded back and forth, the two headed down to Melbourne to play a show and also booked in a session to record the song with producer Tim Harvey. The short and sharp session made for a different scenario to what the two are used to, with the meticulous pre-production paying off as Tom explains: ‘With pre-production, I demo everything at home and then re-track the parts in the studio to make it better…the Melbourne thing felt more fun in a way and special. I hadn’t been in a ‘studio’ studio for a while, that was an interesting experience. Compared to recording in a home studio, the feeling of the large space and also the feeling of being on the clock especially with exploring parts. We had to get it down…I had half an hour to get it all down which can be a fun challenge.’
The spontaneity of the trip coupled with being on the clock still gave way to trying new things in their approach. Part of this was the instrumental passages and letting the song open up but another part to this was using their voices to try things associated more with the other. Both have been told by their peers that the male duet is something that one seldom hears about at present so it was a refreshing blend as Harrie explains: ‘It’s really nice to sing together, like that moment where we come in together.’ Tom agrees when listening back to the song: ‘even I can’t tell who is who which is really cool.’ Harrie’s mother can at times mistake a Tesse song for a Huck Hastings song which highlights their similarities and strengths overall.
Harrie and Tom both recognise and appreciate the community of peers that they work alongside and those within the Sydney music scene who are supportive and champion what they’re working on next. Tom explains: ‘I know for me working on new music, especially now, it feels like at least I have my community to be the audience, the community cares to some degree, like I know my friends will listen to it…maybe’. Harrie mentions what it has meant being able to work with Tom on this release and how it’s turned something that can be daunting into something exciting: ‘Making music can be a really lonely process so when you collaborate with someone and jump on board, you don’t feel like you’re in it on your own kind of throwing this thing at the world going ‘please listen! Or please look!’ You’ve been working on this release together and doing the aesthetics and concepts and publicity and it’s felt like more of a fun process because it can just feel unnatural to sell your work. Whereas when you’re together, it feels more like a project and something fun.’
The two have tentative plans to chip away at working together further which is both promising and exciting. For the time being, we get to enjoy the beautiful song and video for ‘Unreasonable Doubt’. Watch the live version at the beginning of the article and check out the recorded version of ‘Unreasonable Doubt’ below on Spotify along with a playlist of songs that inspired the writing and recording process.
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