Hand Habits Strengthens Their Grip on ‘placeholder’
Maeri Ferguson
Posted On February 28, 2019
We know Meg Duffy as Kevin Morby’s highly proficient guitarist. Their quiet confidence and close attention to detail is mesmerizing to behold and has quickly become synonymous with a Morby performance. But as Duffy (who uses they/them pronouns) embarked on their own project, Hand Habits, we got a peek into the inner life of this seemingly shy artist. 2017’s Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) was a gentle, folk-forward introduction to Duffy as a solo artist. We saw moments of intense vulnerability and self-searching that crept up on us through soft harmonies that conjured the likes of Elliott Smith. Duffy’s follow-up, placeholder, lets us take a deeper dive and finds a more self-assured, defiant version of them.
Though the songs on placeholder find Duffy freshly broken-hearted, the songwriting also shows signs of strength and moving forward. Just as its title suggests, placeholder is about the purgatory of being in between. These songs live in the space between feeling stuck and moving on, in between losing your mind and sitting peacefully with yourself. They float around us, gauzy and airy. That same measured, dreamy voice enriches the harmonies on songs like “jessica,” “placeholder,” and “yr heart,” which also offer the record’s loveliest melodies. Duffy has a way of delivering crushing, emotional lyrics with a light wispiness that feels like it’s tickling the hairs on the back of your neck.
Rather than being overcome with the discomfort of the in-between, Duffy seems to embrace it. They explore it even as it brings to light painful memories, of which there are many on placeholder. Duffy vividly taps into the physicality of heartbreak — a tender bruise, an ashy burn, a buzzing in your ears, a hand holding you under. We get the clearest sense of hope and looking toward the future on placeholder’s final song, “the book on how to change part II.” After it’s taken over by triumphant horns, it fades away, flickering like a distant, wistful memory we’re not quite ready to let go of yet.
