Sit Down With Hand Habits’ “Book On How To Change” – AdHoc

Sit Down With Hand Habits’ “Book On How To Change”

The video documents a departure delicately unfolding into a gentle self-actualization.

Miniature intimacies—from lingering family portraits shakily-camcorded pickup basketball games—constellate the sumptuous video accompanying Hand Habits‘ “Book on How to Change.” The flickering graininess of the film casts a somber pallor over the gorgeous shots of snow-capped summits, RV lots, and domestic assemblages—conjuring the “world so grey” in which “the colors fade into another” that Meg Duffy’s hushed lyrics envision. Capturing glimpses of the small-town “quotidian moments,” as director Chantal Anderson describes in her artist’s statement, the video documents a departure delicately unfolding into a gentle self-actualization. As the peripatetic protagonist arrives at a rocky outcropping just beyond city limits, she regally positions herself atop a small summit and grasps the deep blue air around her, relishing a chance to start “messing” with her very own “dream.” Like the song, a highlight from Hand Habits’ recent Wildly Idle (Humble Before The Void), the heroine appears at ease upon her radiant perch. The rugged alpine landscape, ghost town urban decay, and spaghetti western closeups all attest to the sheer emotional intensity seething beneath the pattering drums and lilting vocals of Duffy’s muted epic.

Wildly Idle (Humble Before The Void) is out now on Woodsist. Hand Habits is currently on tour with Mega Bog. See their dates below.

03/27 – Portland, OR – High Water Mark
03/28 – Eugene, OR – TBD
03/29 – Arcata, CA – Richard’s Goat
03/30 – San Francisco, CA – Starline Social Club
03/31 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place
04/01 – Los Angeles, CA – Basic Flowers
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