Creature of Habit

Following three Top Five albums in her native Australia, Courtney Barnett took her longest break between records yet, waiting nearly five years to deliver the follow-up to 2021s presciently titled Things Take Time, Take Time. That period was one full of personal and professional upheaval for Barnett, including the shuttering of her career-long label, Milk! Records, and a relocation from Melbourne across the ocean to Los Angeles. Theres a restless quality to the self-scrutinizing Creature of Habit that hasnt been as conspicuous in her music since her debut. Although it doesnt re-capture that albums angsty, barbed qualities, it does embody a similar nerviness in combination with the more singer/songwriter-oriented rock reflections of what came in between. Some of the albums mercurial nature may be due to the involvement of four producers -- Barnett, TTTTTs Stella Mozgawa, John Congleton (St. Vincent, Death Cab for Cutie), and Marta Salogni (Black Midi, Sharon Van Etten) -- but much of it can likely be attributed to wide-ranging emotions. For instance, Creature of Habit opens with the bluntly confrontational "Stay in Your Lane," an angular, punk-inflected tune with a message directed at herself. The next track, "Wonder," takes a dreamier, more reflective approach to Barnetts contemplating what others think of her. She wonders over humming keys and a pleasantly rhythmic jangle similar to the bittersweet Waxahatchee duet "Site Unseen." Produced by Congleton, the latter song is about letting go, moving on, and deciding, "Lets figure out the rest another day." Tracks like the midtempo rocker "One Thing at a Time" and the quirky, new wavy "Same" play with distortion or eerie synth timbres, respectively, while taking on the more-frustrated, cynical feelings that often come with change. Elsewhere, she looks for a sign in the praying mantis that appears on her studio door on the musically breezy yet lyrically unsettled "Mantis." Things take a more optimistic turn on the closer, "Another Beautiful Day," which pushes through the doubt, if with deliberate effort, eventually turning the songs title into an anthem. ~ Marcy Donelson