Today, alt-rock superstar Courtney Barnett announces her third studio album Things Take Time, Take Time, set to drop November 12th on Mom+Pop Music / Marathon Artists. A sonic collage of deeply personal snapshots of Barnett at a particularly joyful time in her life, it sees her definitively and confidently taking her place in the storied lineage of highly influential and ground-breaking female singer-songwriters, and signals an exciting new phase indeed for a musician who is operating at the very peak of her powers.
There was good reason for Barnett’s singularly meteoric rise. Barnett remains driven to document the undocumented with painstaking, exacting detail. Over the course of her discography to date, she has made it her mission to record and bear witness to the minutiae and idiosyncrasies of life in all their awkward yet poignant glory, with songs that are sometimes so acutely personal yet beautifully sketched that they can’t help but resonate deeply with the listener. Which brings us neatly to her third album, Things Take Time, Take Time.
Written over two years and recorded towards the end of 2020 and early 2021 between Sydney and Melbourne with producer/drummer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Cate le Bon, Kurt Vile), Things Take Time, Take Time is yet another assured leap forward for Barnett; a breakthrough really, but not in the ways you might expect. This is Barnett at her most creative, relaxed and yes, happy – an exquisite look at Courtney’s private world, and consequently her most beautiful and intimate record to date, with songs dealing unabashedly with love, renewal, healing and self-discovery.
Album opener (and first single) “Rae Street” sets the tone beautifully, a gentle, mid-tempo essay which sketches in detail the everyday life of a small community while juxtaposing it against break-neck speed of modern society, particularly with the memorable chorus of “time is money; and money is no man’s friend”. And yet it is no diatribe, let alone solipsistic musing; in Barnett’s hands the plaintive lyrics become intensely, strikingly alive, a work of astonishing lyricism that uses quiet actions and observations to pry open the way in which the human need to connect is often lost amidst the white noise.
Taken in toto, Things Take Time, Take Time is a stunning, shining glimpse into Courtney 2.0 – no less droll and sharply observant, but more rhythmic, detailed, and effusive with it. This is Courtney’s world – full of the strangeness, busyness and undeniable warmth of life – and you will definitely want to spend some time in it.
COURTNEY BARNETT
THINGS TAKE TIME, TAKE TIME
OUT NOVEMBER 12TH
TRACKLISTING
1. Rae Street
2. Sunfair Sundown
3. Here’s the Thing
4. Before You Gotta Go
5. Turning Green
6. Take it Day By Day
7. If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight
8. Write a List of Things to Look Forward To
9. Splendour
10. Oh the Night
North American Tour
Mon November 29 – Las Vegas, NA @Brooklyn Bowl with Bedouine
Tues December 1 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory with Bedouine
Thurs December 2 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Depot with Bedouine
Sat December 4 – Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren with Bartees Strange
Sun December 5 – San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park with Bartees Strange
Thu, December 9 – Los Angeles, CA – The Theater at Ace Hotel with Warpaint
Fri December 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Ace with Bartees Strange
Sun December 12 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fox with Bartees Strange
Tues December 14 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount with Bartees Strange
Wed December 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore
Sat January 22 – Minneapolis, MN @ Palace Theatre with Julia Jacklin
Sun January 23 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre with Julia Jacklin
Tues January 25 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple Theatre with Julia Jacklin
Wed January 26 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live with Julia Jacklin
Fri January 28 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman with Julia Jacklin
Sat January 29 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern with Julia Jacklin
Mon January 31 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel with Shamir
Wed February 2 – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club with Shamir
Thurs February 3 – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club with Shamir
Fri February 4 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met with Julia Jacklin
Sat February 5 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall with Julia Jacklin
Tues February 8 – Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre with Shamir
Thurs February 10 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground with Shamir
Fri February 11 – Montreal, QC @ Mtelus with Shamir
Sat February 12 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall with Shamir
