Courtney Barnett has to be one of my favorite artists of all time. She writes about her neuroses and experiences with such stark specificity and vulnerability that it cuts me to the core, making her the easiest artist for me to relate to. Her popularity surged with the release of her 2015 debut LP, “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit,” and after a few albumless singles and a collaborative record with Kurt Vile, she is releasing her second album. “Nameless, Faceless” is the first single from her upcoming record, “Tell Me How You Really Feel,” and I am writing this week to discuss my thoughts on the track.
I hope the title of her album alludes to how brazen Barnett will be on this album. “Nameless, Faceless” is an indication that Courtney may be bolder than ever this go-around. The chorus of this track says, “Men are scared that women will laugh at them / I wanna walk through the park in the dark / Women are scared that men will kill them,” a paraphrase of a common feminist mantra coined by Margaret Atwood. The bulk of the rest of the song criticizes a man for being aggressive to her and negging her intelligence. Courtney just goes for it in a different manner than usual for this single and I am very here for it.
Barnett sticks with her gritty guitar chops for “Nameless, Faceless,” but there is an instrumental addition that has not been present in her past work: a keyboard. This new element is hard to distinguish from the rest of the instruments, but I am apprehensive about its implementation. Most artists make stylistic changes from album to album, and listeners either embrace them or feel completely repelled by them. In the case of Indie artists, their sophomore releases often go in a direction that makes their music similar to pop music. It is difficult to tell with just one track from the album if Courtney will also fall into this transformation, but I trust that she will cling to the musicality that made her successful prior to this release.
Barnett’s “Tell Me How You Really Feel” will be released May 18. With this album comes a North American tour, including a Chicago stop that sold out within a few hours. Take a listen to the track and feel free to reach out to WGRE on any of our social media with your thoughts! You can hear Courtney Barnett and many others on the station 24/7 at 91.5 FM or on our website.