Ryan Hemsworth‘s new Quarter-Life Crisis project sees him teaming up with a host of indie-leaning vocalists for collaborations that push him outside his comfort zone. The self-titled EP is landing on December 4, and we’ve already heard the cuts with Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan and Hovvdy’s Charlie Martin, and today comes a third dose in the form of Hemsworth’s collaboration with Meg Duffy aka Hand Habits. Duffy says:
“I had never done any sort of co-writing session before and was a little nervous, but since I had no investment I went in with the intention of having fun and being open to whatever spirits wanted to move. We threw autotune on as a joke (half-joke because I can be pretty pitchy especially in the writing process) and it sounded kind of cool. I started thinking about AI and cyborgs and people/souls disassociating from bodies and identity and kind of just freestyled until a mildly understandable common theme started to swim up. It was really fun!!“
Duffy mentions using auto-tune, and their voice sounds perfectly and naturally pristine on “Comfortable” – matching the surrounding guitar and synth, which are smoothed and rounded to a perfect glisten. Duffy’s voice glides through this anti-gravitational realm as they contemplate the difficulty of little things like annunciation and large ideas like identity – both for themselves and for the cyborgs trying to get a grip on the human world. An unusual song, but one that has no problem enfolding you in its subtly psychedelic tendrils, “Comfortable” is another sparkling collaboration from what’s set to be one of the most intriguing little gem EPs of the year.
Quarter-Life Crisis’ self-titled EP arrives on December 4 through Saddle Creek (pre-order).
You can find Ryan Hemsworth on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, while Hand Habits is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
