hypersongs

Hand Habits

The project of the guitarist and songwriter Meg Duffy, who played in Kevin Morby's band before making Wildly Idle (2017) and placeholder (2019) and plays on records by The War on Drugs and Perfume Genius.

Upstate New York to Kevin Morby's band

Hand Habits is the project of Meg Duffy, who uses they and them as pronouns and is from Amsterdam, New York. They played drums from fifth grade, took up guitar at 17, studied guitar performance at Schenectady County Community College, and moved to Los Angeles to join Kevin Morby's band, which they played in from 2015 to 2018, appearing on City Music (2017) and Oh My God (2019). They have also played with The War on Drugs, William Tyler, Mega Bog, Weyes Blood, Sylvan Esso and, as a band member, Perfume Genius; their slide guitar is on The War on Drugs' "Holding On". KALX says Hand Habits began after the move to Los Angeles as a private songwriting outlet before becoming a full band, and Pitchfork called Duffy your favorite indie rockers' favorite guitarist. Their gear in 2017 was a Fender Lone Star Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan pickups.

Early releases include the pinky demos in 2012 and the double EPs This Sounds Like Nothing Tonight and its companion on September 25, 2015. Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) (2017, Woodsist) was self-produced, recorded in Saugerties, New York and at Duffy's home in Highland Park, with the single "Yr Heart"; Kevin Morby said it hits soft, like warm water.

placeholder and after

placeholder (March 1, 2019, Saddle Creek) was recorded at Justin Vernon's April Base studio in Wisconsin, with songs written over about two years, and was the first Hand Habits record made in a studio. PopMatters gave it 9 out of 10. In 2019 the live trio was Duffy, Keven Lareau on bass and John Andrews on drums. The dirt EP (February 2021) and yes/and (July 2021, with the producer Joel Ford) were followed by Fun House (October 22, 2021, produced by Sasami and engineered by Kyle Thomas), Sugar the Bruise (June 16, 2023, Fat Possum, co-produced by Duffy and Luke Temple at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach), Doubles (September 2023, the duo Duffy x Uhlmann with Gregory Uhlmann) and Blue Reminder (August 22, 2025, Fat Possum, their sixth studio album).

Duffy also played on SASAMI's Squeeze (2022), Christian Lee Hutson's records, Amber Arcades, and Perfume Genius's Glory (2025). Live dates include the Bowery Ballroom in New York on April 10, 2019, Brudenell Social Club in Leeds in 2019 and Schubas Tavern in Chicago in January 2020.

Albums

  • placeholder 2019 · Saddle Creek

    Their second album: twelve songs recorded at Justin Vernon's studio, mixed by Tucker Martine.

Songs

  • jessica placeholder · 2019

    The fourth track of placeholder, a four-minute song that PopMatters called harrowing all by itself.

Sources

  1. Meg Duffy, Wikipedia
  2. Serial collaborator Meg Duffy steps out with Hand Habits, Nashville Scene (2019-04-11)
  3. Hand Habits interview, KALX (2019-04-17)
  4. Hand Habits, Bowery Ballroom, April 10, 2019, We All Want Someone (2019-04-16)