Song You Need: Hand Habits descends into disco

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As they prepare to share Sugar The Bruise, their fourth studio album as Hand Habits, Meg Duffy has shared the record’s third and final single. “The Bust of Nefertiti” is a five-minute descent from baroque acoustic rock into bright plumes of disco, inspired by a statue of an ancient Egyptian queen. From its tense beginning to the release of its latter half, the track is a study in construction.

It’s fitting, then, that Sugar The Bruise was written while Duffy was creating a month-long songwriting class for School of Sound. “It was both inspiring and terrifying,” they said of the experience in a press statement. “I hesitated to consider myself a Songwriter, despite having released 3 records, let alone enough to teach others how to do it my way. In preparing for this course I examined my own approach with a close eye (at times too close for comfort). I realized how vital improvisation and collaboration are to me; in life and in songwriting. I was asked to design writing prompts, and although this was not typically how I would write left to my own devices, I found it to be a wonderful way to get the wheels of inspiration turning. I also cherished how special it was to see all of these other musicians, some new, some contemporaries, rising to the occasion and following themselves into the unknown.”

Listen to “The Bust of Nefertiti,” check out Sugar The Bruise’s cover art and tracklist, and view Hand Habits’ upcoming tour dates below.

1. Something Wrong
2. The Gift of The Human Curse
3. Andy in Stereo
4. Private Life
5. The Book on How to Change pt.3
6. The Bust of Nefertiti

June 15 - Healdsburg, CA - Little Saint^
June 17 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios^
June 18 - Vancouver, BC - The Cobalt^
June /20 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern^
June 22 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel^
June 24 - Los Angeles, CA - Barnsdall Gallery Theatre^

September 24 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook
September 26 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd
September 27 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
September 28 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
September 29 - Troy, NY - No Fun
September 30 - Montreal - POP Montreal

October 15 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana
October 16 - London, UK - Omeara
October 17 - Manchester, UK - Gullivers
October 18 - Leeds, UK - Mill Hill Chapel
October 19 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint

November 10 - San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium*
November 11 - San Diego, CA - Open Air Theater*
November 17 - Austin, TX - Moody Center*
November 18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Lawn*
November 19 - Dallas, TX - Toyota Music Factory*

^ w/ Gregory Uhlmann
* w/ the National