Meg Duffy, the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter known as Hand Habits announces their new album, Blue Reminder, due August 22nd via Fat Possum Records. On the album, Duffy walks an emotional tightrope between hope and a quiet anxiety, batting around the question of what one does when happiness actually comes knocking. At the core of Blue Reminder the genuine joy of love and self-actualization are always balanced against the potential fear of losing those things once you’ve found them. “For this record I set out to no longer shapeshift when it came to the person I become in the face of love,” explains Duffy.
On lead single “Wheel of Change,” released today alongside an evocative video directed by Otium, Duffy sings of how past loves and emotional collapse clear the way for what comes next, while true romantic love — prickly and complicated and deeply illuminating — looms large.
“Both lyrically and in its production, this song is about the impossibility of return—you can’t go back to the way things were, no matter how much you might want to hold on to a time, or a feeling, or a person,” Duffy explains. “Lyrically there’s a kind of desperation (“I need it now more than ever”), but in it there’s also a request, “don’t take it away just yet,” which is not a question but a demand, and I wanted the production to reflect that. That in longing, there can be this sharper, wild edge. Like, no I need this, give it to me, don’t take it away.”
Recorded in Los Angeles with co-producer Joseph Lorge, Blue Reminder finds Duffy once again collaborating with an impressive coterie of musicians, including Alan Wyffels, Gregory Uhlmann, Olivia Kaplan, Blake Mills, Tim Carr, Daniel Aged, and Joshua Johnson and Anna Butters of SML. Having spent a big part of the last decade on the road, both as a solo artist and as a touring member of Perfume Genius, Duffy’s affinity for playing live in a room with other musicians was the impetus for the record, which was largely tracked live.
Hand Habits is also announcing a fall North America tour behind Blue Reminder today, plus support dates with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Japanese Breakfast in addition to the already announced EU and UK dates with Perfume Genius. Pre-sales begin tomorrow with general on-sale kicking off Friday June 6th at 10 am local time.
07/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Orpheum ^
08/21 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s ~
08/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ 2220
09/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Public Records
09/20 – New York, NY @ Nightclub 101
09/21 – Washington, DC @ DC9
09/23 – Albany, NY @ Lark Hall
09/24 – Montreal, QC @ POP MONTREAL
09/26 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Garage
09/27 – Ferndale, MI @ Magic Bag
09/28 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
09/30 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Andy Warhol Museum
10/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
10/15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
10/17 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
10/18 – Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
10/21 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
10/23 – Healdsburg, CA @ Little Saint
10/30 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon *
11/03 – Berlin, DE @ Astra Kulturhaus *
11/04 – Hamburg, DE @ Mojo Club *
11/05 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *
11/07 – Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall *
11/08 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio *
11/09 – Leeds, UK @ Project House *
11/11 – London, UK @ Roundhouse *
11/12 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity Centre *
11/13 – Dublin, IE @ The National Stadium *
^ supporting Yeah Yeah Yeahs
~ supporting Japanese Breakfast
* supporting Perfume Genius