Hand Habits, the moniker of Los Angeles-based Meg Duffy (they/them), shares “The Bust of Nefertiti,” the final single from their upcoming new record, Sugar The Bruise, out this Friday June 16th on Fat Possum. 

Inspired by month-long songwriting class Duffy taught in the summer of 2021, they re-discovered, with newfound clarity, the generative capacity of embracing the unknown, and how essential collaboration and improvisation are for accessing the indescribable. 

Working with Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic, Art Feynman) and Philip Weinrobe (Adrienne Lenker, Cass McCombs), Duffy surrendered to the present moment, trusting that whatever sounds and words emerged were meant to emerge. With additional production, engineering and arranging from Jeremy Harris, Duffy created something which, in their words, “turned out nothing like I’d imagined it would.”

The result of this collective experiment, born equally from play and intention, is a radical gift for listeners: proof that our most vital processes, creation and destruction, are exquisitely entangled. The unanswerable and untenable suffering of experience is the fact of perpetual loss. And, yet, there is precious, vivid magic created by this condition. In Sugar the Bruise, grief folds in on itself and becomes laughter; language fades away into sonic expanses of the inexpressible; melodies melt into cacophonies; love songs surrender to loss; historic violence is supplanted by the disks of sunlight. 

Hand Habits has also announced your dates supporting The National in addition to the already announced headlining North America summer tour. All dates below:

6/15 – Healdsburg, CA – Little Saint^

6/17 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios^

6/18 – Vancouver, BC – The Cobalt^

6/20 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern^

6/22 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel^

6/24 – Los Angeles, CA – Barnsdall Gallery Theatre^

9/24 – Durham, NC – The Pinhook

9/26 – Washington, DC – Songbyrd

9/27 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s

9/28 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom

9/29 – Troy, NY – No Fun

9/30 – Montreal – POP Montreal

10/15 – Bristol, UK – The Louisiana

10/16 – London, UK – Omeara

10/17 – Manchester, UK – Gullivers

10/18 – Leeds, UK – Mill Hill Chapel

10/19 – Glasgow, UK – Hug & Pint

11/10 – San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium*

11/11 – San Diego, CA – Open Air Theater*

11/17 – Austin, TX – Moody Center*

11/18 – Houston, TX – White Oak Lawn*

11/19 – Dallas, TX – Toyota Music Factory*

^ w/ Gregory Uhlmann

* w/ the National

Photo Courtesy: Otium