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Meg Duffy is an American musician and guitarist who has played as a studio musician on records by The War on Drugs, Weyes Blood, Perfume Genius, Sasami, and William Tyler, among many others. Duffy was a longtime member of Kevin Morby's live band, is a current member of Perfume Genius's band, and is the sole member of indie-rock band Hand Habits.[1]
Meg Duffy | |
|---|---|
 Duffy performing at the Getty in Los Angeles, CA in 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Amsterdam, New York |
| Genres | Folk, indie folk, indie-rock |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, Slide Guitar, Piano, Bass |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Labels | Woodsist Records, Saddle Creek, Fat Possum |
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Duffy is originally from Amsterdam, New York, and first started playing guitar at 17, although they had played drums since 5th grade.[2] After graduating from high school, Duffy attended Schenectady County Community College for guitar performance as the only female student in the program.[2] After graduating from college they briefly relocated to Albany, New York, prior to joining Morby's band in Los Angeles, California.[2] Duffy uses non-binary gender-neutral pronouns.[3][4]
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Duffy is credited on a number of albums as a session musician. They played a slide guitar solo on "Holding On" off The War on Drugs' Grammy-winning album A Deeper Understanding,[5] and in 2019 they played on William Tyler's instrumental album Goes West.[6] Duffy contributed guitar, slide guitar, and bass on the albums Fading Lines (2016) and European Heartbreak (2018) by Dutch artist Amber Arcades.[7][8] Duffy played slide guitar on "Seven Words", a 2016 track from the album Front Row Seat to Earth by Weyes Blood.[9] Duffy appeared on Mega Bog's albums Happy Together (2017) and Dolphine (2019).[10][11] Duffy was a regular member of indie rock musician Kevin Morby's live band from 2015 to 2018, and played guitar, piano, and bass on his 2017 album City Music.[12]
Duffy collaborated with music Jenn Wasner on Wasner's second album as Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses.[13] They are also heavily featured in Sylvan Esso's expanded live band from their WITH tour, of which a full-length concert film and double LP WITH was released. Duffy also performed on the follow-up EP, WITH LOVE.
Their other latest credits include playing guitar on SASAMI's album Squeeze, Christian Lee Hutson's Quitters, Weyes Blood's And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, Mega Bog's Life, and Another, Hurray for the Riff Raff's The Past Is Still Alive, and many more.
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Duffy is the founder, primary songwriter, and only permanent member of the Los Angeles-based band Hand Habits.[14] Their first release as Hand Habits was a 2012 split record titled Small Shifts (included as part of the pinky demos).[15] On September 25, 2015, Hand Habits released double EPs titled This Sounds Like Nothing Tonight and This Sounds Like Nothing Before.[16][17]
Wildly Idle (2017)
Their first full length record Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) was released by Woodsist Records in 2017.[18]
Wildly Idle was self-produced by Duffy and recorded partially in Saugerties, New York and partially at their home in Highland Park.[4] Kevin Morby said about the album: "Wildly Idle feels incredibly intimate, like a secret between her and the listener. It hits soft, like warm water, and before you know it it is all around you – a bath, and Meg's whisper has made its way inside you".[19] In reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Quinn Moreland wrote: "Duffy sings of romances come and gone without ever sounding jaded or spiteful; future love promises a mystery, a sensuality that’s open like the road".[18]
placeholder (2019)
On March 1, 2019 Hand Habits released their second studio album, placeholder, produced by Brad Cook in Justin Vernon's Wisconsin studio.[20][21] Duffy stated that the songs on placeholder "are about accountability and forgiveness .... These are all real stories. I don't fictionalize much".[22]
2020 to 2021
In 2020, Hand Habits released singles "Pictures of Flowers", a collaboration with Jess Williamson,[23][24] and "Comfortable", a collaboration with Ryan Hemsworth.[25][26] They released their EP dirt in February 2021,[27] and in June of that same year, they released the singles "motherless" and "no reply", produced by Luke Temple and Jeremy Harris.[28]
yes/and (2021)
Duffy's collaborative project with producer Joel Ford, yes/and, debuted with a self-titled album in July 2021.[29][30][31]
Fun House (2021)
In August 2021, Hand Habits announced their upcoming album Fun House, and released the first single "Aquamarine".[32][33] The album, which was produced by Sasami and engineered by Kyle Thomas, was released on October 22, 2021.[34] In their positive review of the album, Pitchfork noted: "[Fun House] embodies all Duffy’s gifts at once, bringing their virtuosic talent into their own wheelhouse, on their own terms."[35] The FADER dubbed the album a "breakthrough," with Shaad D'Souza writing that the album is "lush, bright, in constant forward motion, in a constant state of change... Duffy’s third and best record, it possesses some grimy, earthen magic."[36]
2022
On September 14, 2022, Hand Habits released two new songs "Greatest Weapon," a song about "coming to grips with the dance of time," [37] and "Under The Water" via Sylvan Esso's Psychic Hotline label.[38] The latter track is a collaboration between Duffy and Sylvan Esso's Amelia Meath.[39]
Sugar the Bruise (2023)
In March 2023, Hand Habits announced a six-track album Sugar the Bruise, which was released by Fat Possum on June 16.[40] The record was co-produced by Duffy and Luke Temple, with additional production from Philip Weinrobe and Jeremy Harris, and was recorded at Panoramic House Studios in Stinson Beach, CA.[41][42] Of the album, Paste Magazine writes, "these chapters are personal, droll, flushed and cresting; wondrously experimental and deftly consummate; a skyline of everydayness... Duffy paves a new slate, growing slowly into subversive song constructions and articulating how a body might begin tumbling through familiar habitats with a romantic, curious and joyous eye."[41]
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In a 2017 interview, Duffy stated they play a Fender Lone Star Stratocaster with a rosewood fretboard.[4] The guitar, they stated, is set up with Seymour Duncan pickups in a HSS configuration (a single coil at the neck position, a single coil in the middle position and a humbucker at the bridge position.[4]), also known as a “fat strat.”
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LP
- Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) (2017)
- placeholder (2019)
- yes/and (2021) (collaboration with Joel Ford)
- Fun House (2021)
- Fun House + Blueprints (2022)
EP
Singles
- "Yr Heart" (2017)
- "Pictures of Flowers" (2020) (collaboration with Jess Williamson)
- "Comfortable"(2020) (collaboration with Ryan Hemsworth)
- "4th of July" (2021)
- "motherless" (2021)
- "no reply" (2021)
- "Aquamarine" (2021)
- "No Difference" (2021)
- "Graves" (2021)
- "Clean Air" (2021)
- "Greatest Weapon" (2022)
- "Under The Water" (2022) (collaboration with Amelia Meath)
- "Something Wrong" (2023)
- "Private Life" (2023)
- "The Bust of Nefertiti" (2023)
Live albums
- Audiotree Live (2017)
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Full list of additional credits/collaborations showing year, album, artist, and credit
| Year | Album | Artist | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Big For You | Zsela | Guitar |
| 2024 | The Cool Cloud of Okayness | Tara Jane O'Neil | Guitar Processor 10 |
| 2024 | sentiment | Claire Rousay | Guitar |
| 2024 | The Past Is Still Alive | Hurray for the Riff Raff | Guitar (Electric); Background Vocals, Synthesizer; Slide Guitar |
| 2023 | End of Everything | Mega Bog | Guitar |
| 2022 | Squeeze | SASAMI | Guitar |
| 2022 | Quitters | Christian Lee Hutson | Guitar (Electric) |
| 2022 | Greeneville | Angel Olsen, Lucinda Williams | Vocals |
| 2022 | And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow | Weyes Blood | Guitar |
| 2021 | yes/and | yes/and | Guitar (Electric), Loops, Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (baritone). Production |
| 2021 | Dirt | Hand Habits | Primary Artist |
| 2021 | Life, and Another | Mega Bog | Group Member, Guitar, Guitar (Electric) |
| 2021 | I Want the Door to Open | Lala Lala | Engineer |
| 2021 | It's Not So Hard | Chris Cohen | Guitar |
| 2021 | No Reply | Hand Habits | Guitar, Vocals, Composer, Synthesizer, Loops |
| 2021 | Motherless | Hand Habits | Primary Artist |
| 2021 | Neighborhood Watch | Gregory Uhlmann | Vocals |
| 2021 | Fun House | Hand Habits | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Baritone), Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Nashville), Slide Guitar, Vocals |
| 2020 | WITH LOVE | Sylvan Esso | Guitar |
| 2020 | WITH | Sylvan Esso | Guitar, Musician, Primary Artist |
| 2020 | The Fountain | Night Shop | Guitar |
| 2020 | Quarter-Life Crisis | Quarter-Life Crisis | Composer |
| 2020 | Beginners | Christian Lee Hutson | Guitar (Electric) |
| 2020 | You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This | Mirah | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 2019 | Pictures of Flowers | Hand Habits / Jess Williamson | Primary Artist |
| 2019 | Vagabon | Vagabon | Guitar Loops, Slide Guitar, Textural Sampling |
| 2019 | Placeholder | Hand Habits | Producer, Bird Calls, Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Baritone), Loop, Organ, Percussion, Piano, Sounds, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 2019 | Oh My God | Kevin Morby | Guitar |
| 2019 | Heartbreak City | Apex Manor | Engineer, Group Member, Guitars |
| 2019 | Gold Past Life | Fruit Bats | Guitar |
| 2019 | Goes West | William Tyler | Guitar (Electric), Loop |
| 2019 | Every Woman | Vagabon | Slide Guitar |
| 2019 | Dolphine | Mega Bog | Performer |
| 2018 | European Heartbreak | Amber Arcades | Slide Guitar, Bass |
| 2017 | Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) | Hand Habits | Arranger, Composer, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 2017 | Yr Heart | Hand Habits | Primary Artist |
| 2017 | Holding On | The War on Drugs | Slide Guitar |
| 2017 | City Music | Kevin Morby | Guitar, Piano, Bass, Vocals |
| 2017 | A Deeper Understanding | The War on Drugs | Slide Guitar |
| 2016 | Front Row Seat to Earth | Weyes Blood | Slide Guitar |
| 2016 | Fading Lines | Amber Arcades | Guitar |
| 2014 | Small Shifts | Hand Habits | Primary Artist, Producer, Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Arranger, Mixing, Synthesizers, Samples |
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