Hand Habits Share Pensive New Single ‘Private Life’

Hand Habits, the recording moniker of multi-instrumentalist Meg Duffy, shared “Private Life,” the latest single off their upcoming new album, Sugar The Bruise. Fat Possum Records is slated to release the album on June 16.

Duffy worked with co-producers Luke Temple, Philip Weinrobe and Jeremy Harris on the follow-up to 2021’s Fun House. The six-song Sugar The Bruise was galvanized by Duffy’s experience in August 2021 leading a month-long songwriting workshop.

Regarding their month teaching at the School Of Song and its influence on the album, Duffy stated:

“It was both inspiring and terrifying. I hesitated to consider myself a Songwriter, despite having released three records, let alone enough to teach others how to do it my way. In preparing for this course I examined my own approach with a close eye (at times too close for comfort). I realized how vital improvisation and collaboration are to me; in life and in songwriting. I was asked to design writing prompts, and although this was not typically how I would write left to my own devices, I found it to be a wonderful way to get the wheels of inspiration turning. I also cherished how special it was to see all of these other musicians, some new, some contemporaries, rising to the occasion and following themselves into the unknown …

“For Sugar the Bruise, I had no plan other than to let my mind go blank, and lean into the playful side of things. To laugh a little, to lighten up, to shift the focus off of my own experience a bit. What if making a song didn’t mean dredging up the abyss? Of course, at baseline I am pulled towards nourishing the unfolding of memory into something beautiful, something archetypal/universal, and sharing it with you. And like all good muses, it’s easy to project whatever narrative you are carrying onto them.

“So I hope you enjoy this collection of songs. I like to think of them akin to a novella or short film. My wish is that these songs provide a mirror to those who can’t find their own ways to explain the knots of twisted emotions we all deal with.”

Duffy previously previewed Sugar The Bruise with the lead single, “Something Wrong.” With an accompanying Otium-directed video, check out the new Hand Habits single, “Private Life,” below: