Stay In Your Lane’s mid-song reverse keychange reads like being shut down or dismissed, which its title also suggests.
The 200 lucky fans who squeezed into Fitzroy’s Punters Club for Courney Barnett’s surprise secret show last November scored a couple of Creature Of Habit previews: the upbeat, pensive Site Unseen (the recorded version of which features Waxahatchee); Mostly Patient, an acoustic ballad that lands like a supportive mate providing empathy during a rough patch; and Mantis, a song about an insect sighting that broke her creative drought, also inspiring the title and cover art.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
During a solo songwriting retreat in Joshua Tree, Barnett was struggling to put words to a synth-and-drum demo she’d received from Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa – her frequent studio collaborator and session drummer – a couple of years prior. Until a praying mantis caught Barnett’s eye, she took it as a sign to persevere and out flowed the chorus: “Ooh, praying mantis on my door/ Looking for meaning or just any sign at all…”
Built from a circular, descending riff, standout track Same – which also features gothic synth and percussive “Fffffft”s like aerosol spray – aptly showcases her self-assured guitar wizardry. Barnett’s guitar chops are undeniable. She boasts a distinctive playing style (see: the textured guitar solo that closes One Thing At A Time – almost-two glorious minutes long).
Barnett’s fourth album was written in the wake of a relocation from Australia to Los Angeles and the closure of Milk! Records, her long-running indie record label. But Creature Of Habit is far from a downer. Some lyrical phrases are perspective-shifting, doubling as life advice worth scrawling on the back of your hand with a Sharpie.
She often bravely gives voice to intrusive thoughts through her lyrics, making the overthinkers amongst us feel seen. The trademark self-analytical ponderings (“Feels like I’m going backwards/ Each day I preach my practice/ And still it seems I wasn’t rea-dy for this”) are ubiquitous and endearing as ever, but Barnett’s evocative guitar work pulls equal focus on this record. During Sugar Plum (“I’m in over my head”, “It seems like everybody’s struggling”), an uplifting keychange signals an altered outlook: “I’m looking forward to some brighter days… So I’m looking for a little leniency” – cultivating self-kindness FTW.
From working behind the bar at Northcote Social Club to becoming one of Australia’s greatest musical exports, Barnett embraces authenticity while emboldening other artists to do the same.
She seems so effortlessly cool, right? But you can also tell she feels like a bit of a dork most of the time, which is why we adore her so much.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect melody, but I keep searching,” Barnett sings during Mantis. Long may her search continue!
LABEL: FICTION
RELEASE: 27 MARCH
