Hand Habits

Quietly devastating third LP puts in-demand collaborator back in spotlight.

“Is that all you’ve got?” sings Meg Duffy on Graves, an almost Joan Baez-pure examination of memory and grief. “Just a hole in a song/And you fill it with what went wrong.” Yet while trauma is deep in Fun House’s foundations, it’s no conventional repository of confessional songwriting. As a guitarist, Duffy (who uses they/them pronouns) has played with Kevin Morby, War On Drugs and Perfume Genius (a guest on No Difference and Just To Hear You). Even centre stage, Duffy works with unshowy precision and stylistic suppleness, from the remarkable Aquamarine, dancefloor strobing flashing their life before your eyes, to The Answer and Control, displaying an Elliott Smith-like grasp of classic pop poignancy. The previous Hand Habits record was wryly titled Placeholder; navigating the trick mirrors and buckling floors of memory and identity, Fun House moves Duffy ever closer to the revelatory heart of the matter.