Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius features on “No Difference” and “Just to Hear You”, and the album’s lyrics feature sensual queer imagery like “Aquamarine’s” “a tiny tidepool gathering in your abdomen for me to drink” and “The Answer’s” “my body, a question that hangs on her tongue. Queer artistry is its own compelling current across Fun House. “I think this also coincides with my trans identity too because so much of that journey for me has been me really fighting against what I’m not ‘allowed’ to be,” says Duffy of pushing these artistic boundaries. The 1970s roots-rock groove of Neil Young, who Duffy recently covered with a version of “I Believe in You” on dirt, also makes an appearance on “Gold/Rust” and “Concrete & Feathers”. Produced by Sasami Ashworth (SASAMI) and engineered by Kyle Thomas of King Tuff, the album swings from the typical indie-folk of Hand Habits’ previous discography in “Graves” and “False Start” to dreamy synthpop on “Aquamarine”. On “Clean Air”, Duffy has a compelling realization about the complexity of an emotional dynamic, acknowledging “I can no longer ask that of you.”įun House is more adventurous sonically than Duffy’s previous work, too. Still, the empathy that acts as a hallmark of their lyrical storytelling remains intact. Meanwhile, in “Just to Hear You”, they declare, “I know much better now” after detailing the ways they yearned for connection from a previous partner.
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Directly after recalling those sweet song-quoting nothings on “More Than Love”, Duffy sings, “I needed more than that”. Inspired by the sudden quiet of quarantine and Duffy’s process of emotional reckoning in therapy, there’s a new sense of ownership across the lyrics that emphasizes Duffy’s agency and needs, in addition to those of the other people involved in the intricate dynamics of which they sing. Hand Habits - Demand It (Official Music Video) 41,004 views 561 Dislike Share Save woodsist 8.22K subscribers Shot and Directed by Christina Acevedo. 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. Fun House by Hand Habits Fun House by Hand Habitsįun House redirects that pattern examination back onto the self. Fun House is Duffy's most ambitious Hand Habits album to date. In 2015, Hand Habits released double EPs title read more. The first release was a 2012 split record titled Small Shifts (included as part of the pinky demos). Duffy notes that this theme of their music is influenced by how “the lines between romance and friendship are often blurred” in queer relationships, resulting in a need to approach all connections with an overarching sense of empathy. Hand Habits is an American indie band based in Los Angeles whose only permanent member is American musician Meg Duffy (born in Upstate New York). In their most recent EP, dirt, for instance, “4th of july”, is a devastating ode to a volatile dynamic in which a loved one causes pain by being unable to process their anxieties. Setting the scene with a direct callback to Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher Than the Rest” - or perhaps the gender-bending 1990 Emmylou Harris version - the line is a keen dressing for the rest of the album, a meditative offering of emotional clarity out now via Saddle Creek.ĭuffy, whose roots originally lie as a collaborator with Sylvan Esso and touring guitarist for roots-indie musician Kevin Morby, has garnered praise for vulnerable lyrics like these, in which heartbreak and pain are often laced with a particular sense of maturity and forgiveness over artfully-picked folk instrumentation. It’s so anamorph, and it can be anything.“Tonight I put on a song you used to pull me in / Another Saturday night, I’m all dressed up in blue,” Meg Duffy confesses in the first lines of “More Than Love”, the lead track on the new Hand Habits album Fun House. I would ask myself, “Is this getting too far away from what my identity is?” But in reality, identity is so vapor. Janu The title track from Hand Habits forthcoming album placeholder, due March 1 is a soft yet scathing lamentation of being secondary. It still really feels like me, but I was initially worried about losing that. Sasami’s production expanded upon what I think Hand Habits could be. I was like, “This is not Hand Habits.” She said, “Do you really not like it or is it just uncomfortable?” I was just uncomfortable because I had never allowed myself to go there before. There were a couple of moments I remember really resisting the ideas she was having. You wrote the song.” She created such a safe place to take a calculated risk, it was so monumental. I told her I couldn’t write a pop song, and she said, "Why not? You can sing it. She said, “Look at all these rooms you can go into.” Sasami really helped me create an energetic, uplifting contrast between the intensity of the lyrics and the music. She wanted to help me make a record that was representative of all of me, not just an overly simplified version of myself due to my own fears. As a friend, she sees all these different sides of me.