Perhaps the biggest sonic departure on the record with its prime use of bubbling synths and a danceable beat, “Aquamarine” sees Duffy skipping through a series of historic recollections of witnessing drunken men, suicide, and temper tantrums, but ultimately seems to be an oblique origin story as they come back to the question “who am I?”
“I can no longer stand at the gates of your love” they announce on the anthemic “Clean Air” – when it’s clear that this person’s love is what Duffy needs to find some self-worth.Įlsewhere, the “you” of Duffy’s songs is more amorphous, a general term for anything or anyone outside themselves – or perhaps the parts of themselves they find it hard to accept. Later, they flip the script and repeat “I don’t need anything from you” in unison with Perfume Genius on the lilting “Just To Hear You”, yet the regret is palpable – you get the feeling that Duffy would give anything to get to feel this person again. “I needed more than loving you” they announce on the breezy opener, while subtle electronics propel the song forward, leaving a former flame in the past. Often, they revolve around tough relationship circumstances. In excavating deeply-held truths, Duffy often focuses intently on a miniscule moment and the songwriter has a natural tendency of coming at these recollections from a pessimistic perspective. This is still unmistakably Meg Duffy in all their quietly profound brilliance.įun House is a series of lessons learned the hard way, and Duffy is not letting themselves off the hook without wringing the pain and passion from them first. That being said, these adornments – violins, synths, pulses, backing vocals and the occasional woodwind – only embolden the already-established Hand Habits sound, rather than overhaul it entirely.
There’s also the fact that Duffy created Fun House with Sasami Ashworth, who helped push the songwriter to warp and enhance the songs into something fairly unusual for the Hand Habits project. It would be easy to make the connection between these warped visages and Duffy’s own experiences as a non-binary person – but Fun House is more about what’s changing on the inside rather than the visible outside. Moreover, a fun house suggests fun house mirrors – those that reflect back your appearance in warped and unusual ways. Of course there’s The Stooges’ classic album looming in the background, but Hand Habits is probably never going to make an album that muscular and capital R Rock (although Meg Duffy has proven themselves an excellent guitarist in their stints backing Perfume Genius and Kevin Morby). It does not store any personal data.Titling your album Fun House brings with it certain expectations or connotations. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. If you’d like to support us by subscribing to our zine, click here – it’s just £6 a year for four copies (inc p&p). Airy backing vocals plump out a suitably skeletal mix – before tasteful strings and some slightly mysterious harmonic fizzles join in to elevate the song to an emotional climax worthy of the most courageous and amorous albums.Īccompanied by a low-key, but nonetheless engrossing black and white music video, Clean Air’is perhaps the strongest single of a diverse and daring crop. The song has an indescribable finality to it, and it is a tellingly perfect ending to Fun House before we even have the chance to know the project as a whole. Sanguine turns of phrase flower out of one another effortlessly – while a variously-levelled rhythmic backbone ties in with close sounding guitar and bass that are as warm as a carefully constructed hearth deep inside a thatched cottage. Longing and frustration characterise Meg Duffy’s sombre vocals, as they plead with a lover over their never-quite-resolved conflicts. Clean Air is Hand Habits’ final, suitably gorgeous offering, in anticipation of their upcoming third album, Fun House – and t he Saddle Creek signee continues to provide loving ditties that wander through acoustic guitar-led states of serenity.
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