Hand Habits

Meg Duffy of Hand Habits wrote new album Blue Reminder as a reaction to what one does when happiness actually comes knocking. After years of collaborating and touring with musicians like Kevin Morby and Perfume Genius, Duffy still draws on the solace of that community, but takes center stage, with their most assured, classic songwriting yet against a backstop of nuanced instrumentation and moving testimony. The record is a celebration of commitment: to being a more honest version of yourself, driven by a romantic love that recognizes the beauty of imperfection. Lead single “Wheel of Change” is perhaps the most joyous and anthemic song Duffy has ever made, with a chorus that remains stuck in your head, but the record as a whole traverses a myriad of emotions where the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

Hand Habits: Sugar the Bruise [CD]

Hand Habits, the project of Los Angeles-based musician Meg Duffy (they/them), new album Fun House is the most ambitious Hand Habits album to date. Produced by Sasami Ashworth (SASAMI) and engineered by Kyle Thomas (King Tuff), the record was not intended as a reaction to the pandemic, but it was very much the result of taking a difficult, if much-needed, moment of pause. Emboldened by going into therapy and coaxed by Ashworth to push the songs into unexpected new shapes, the resulting music is more acutely personal and stylistically adventurous than anything you’ve heard from Hand Habits before. The push/pull of styles, paired with songs that move deftly between the present and past, give the record a wildly diverse, hall of mirrors quality that befits its name. Where previous Hand Habits records could be fairly insular affairs, Fun House feels ebullient, lush, a fully-realized conversation.

Meg kommer från Upstate New York. Hon var gitarrist hos Kevin Morby (både på skiva och live). En flytt till Los Angeles skapade Hand habits-projektet och här resultatet. Skapat i studio, och Meg fick olika vänner att hjälpa till under resans gång. En lågmäld lysande amerikansk indie-singer/sognwriter-pop. Saddlecreek har fortfarande grym a.o.r.!