Hand Habits is the brainchild of musician Meg Duffy. Amid a busy touring schedule, ongoing for five consecutive years, Duffy had put a pause on writing music, until the pandemic occurred, halting their touring plans.
“It had been full pedal to the metal in terms of traveling and scheduling, which meant I really didn’t have a lot of time to think about how I felt or really check in with myself,” the musician recalled. “Then, when the world basically stopped, it turned out to be the longest I’ve been alone in my entire life — without being in a relationship, without being on the road, without working myself to exhaustion — and the result was really like, holy shit. I slammed on the brakes and everything psychologically that I’d been pushing down and ignoring for the past few years suddenly flew to the foreground.”
Duffy found themself at home with their two housemates, Sasami Ashworth (SASAMI) and Kyle Thomas (King Tuff), who also worked on the album with Duffy. What began as an introspective glimpse at their life through the process of songwriting resulted in a full-fledged written album. Fun House explores the realization of oneself and the processes of grief and trauma.
“I like that the idea of a ‘fun house’ can have so many different connotations,” Duffy noted. “It’s disorienting, it’s filled with all these different rooms with different energies and emotions. There's a risk that there will be manipulation happening to your environment, but you sign up for it. I really liked the idea that we could take risks, that these songs could sound very different but still make sense together.”