Hand Habits – “can’t calm down” Video

Hand Habits – “can’t calm down” Video

Earlier this month, Meg Duffy announced their second Hand Habits album, placeholder, with its title track, and today we get to hear another song from it, “can’t calm down.” It’s a languidly moving song about what happens when you feel like you can’t measure up. “What if I can’t calm down?” Duffy asks in the chorus. “And I don’t have that in my bloodline?”

Its accompanying video, directed by Vanessa Haddad, takes the blood part literally. Duffy plays a vampire wandering the back alleys of Los Angeles, where they end up at a concert at a bar and spot their next victim. The story plays out in a dreamy fog, taking the soul-sucking nature of the demon inside seriously.

Here’s what Duffy had to say about the song in a statement:

this song took the longest lyrically for me to finish. i started it about 3 years ago and kept it in progress throughout different cycles of feeling. ‘ancestral damage’ and learned behaviors and conditioning to react/hold and place certain emotions are patterns i’m interested in taking part and understanding better. what can one do with rage? with pain? with sadness? and is it is possible to learn how to wipe away completely the knee jerk reactions to situations that are buried deep in one’s dna? and the role models that taught us how to behave, whether directly or residually…are they the ones who should be held responsible or is memory partially to blame?

Watch and listen below.

placeholder is out 3/1 via Saddle Creek. Pre-order it here.

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