By Phil Scarisbrick

Following on from 2021’s Fun House, Hand Habits (AKA Meg Duffy) returns with a new ‘mini-album’ – Sugar The Bruise – this summer. A first release on new label, Fat Possum, the record sees Duffy embrace collaboration and improvisation more than ever before, and is preceded by the fantastic lead single, Something Wrong.

Mechanical drums open the track, lurching like an industrial conveyor belt, grinding and echoing, before Duffy’s vocal lands like a hammer battering smelted iron into shape. The cyclical intensity of the opening verse melts away into a beautifully instant chorus. ‘Is there something wrong with that?’ sings Duffy, with a longing for an answer that is palpable in their delivery. The final solo lingers on a solitary wailing note, begging you to examine every facet of its singularity akin to John Cale’s violin experimentations. One final recital of the chorus line is delivered in conciliatory fashion, ending a stunning return from Duffy.