The events and eulogies and identities that have informed who they are were now out in the open, but-being the near-prolific creator and performer that they are (two albums, a multi-year tour playing in Perfume Genius’ band and guesting on over a handful of records made by their peers), a corner ached to be turned. “And, it took the same amount of work.” At six songs tallying up a 20-minute runtime, each entry on Sugar the Bruise is distinct and separate a tracklist that obliterates the luxury and ease of just swimming through the motions.Īfter making Fun House with SASAMI and Kyle Thomas (King Tuff), Duffy was unsure of where they would-or should-turn next. “Just as an experiment, I’ve been interested in thinking about it as a record, becuase it is a record of songs that exist and it is shorter, but it’s not that much shorter than other records that are called records,” they say. It’s not an EP, and Duffy is quick to correct anyone who doesn’t respect their album’s pronouns. So it should come as no surprise that Sugar the Bruise, the fourth Hand Habits album, is a crash-course on what the period of an, essentially, on-record ciphering of turmoil and metamorphosis might look like. Their storytelling had never been less opaque, splitting open old misery and processing a once-dormant catharsis. On 2019’s placeholder and 2021’s Fun House-the latter especially-Duffy put a lot of effort into constructing palaces from the framework of personal grief and trauma: “Aquamarine” was about their mother’s suicide “Clean Air” entangled their trans identity with imagery of a cherry tree their aunt planted for them years ago. Songs like “Flower Glass,” “yr heart ” and “Gold/Rust” are courageous and miraculous monoliths from a sonic perspective narratively, Duffy has migrated towards reflexive, bare-hearted and-sometimes-painful renderings of memories affixed to the dimensions of their own ongoing growth. For the last six years, they’ve perfected slow-burn, acoustic pastorals and synth-folk treasures. The way Duffy has evolved since their 2017 debut Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) has been a crawl towards the badge of brightness they proudly sport today. Each album they make detours from what precedes it every song arrives like a precise, steadfast and curious vision. While they are always an in-demand guitarist on other folks’ records, it’s as Hand Habits where Duffy finds freedom through personal reflection and sonic curiosity. Across their work as Hand Habits, Yes/And and a bevy of session credits, they’ve taken many shapes and unspooled a number of different voices from the recesses of their own creative margins. Meg Duffy’s everlasting imprint on the landscape of modern music creates its own unflinching, generous world.
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