Taking notice of the mundane has always been something Courtney Barnett has excelled at. For her third album, ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’, she has used the same observation techniques as felt in her previous work whilst at the same time completely changing the narrative of its overarching conception and therefore going in a different direction. The Australian singer-songwriter’s latest effort is not filled with references of all the darkness that resides in the world or the utmost beautiful desperation found in loneliness and self-doubt, instead it’s about finding love in the small, every-day things.
Switching the overall theme doesn’t translate into a complete overhaul of her unique sound. As the lo-fi rock guitar riffs and drum beats are still an often reoccurrence throughout the album. Yet Barnett’s lyricism is steeped in the melancholic field, and even ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’, doesn’t escape this fate. “Don’t you know I’m not your enemy, maybe let’s cut off caffeine / Tomorrow’s too late to reminisce, call me when you get this,” from ‘Before You Gotta Go’ and “Stars in the sky, are gonna die, eventually it’s fine / Just like a lonely satellite, drifting for a little while / If I don’t hear from you tonight, if I don’t hear from you tonight,” from “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight’, are prime examples of Barnett’s magnificent use of its core emotion.
Her latest record, is a body of work tainted by lost love and a world that has changed into a completely new entity forever. Therefore, the hope of friendship and connectivity is a tale of resistance and the deepest, smallest bit of positivity that lives within all of us. The 34-year-old artist has been attracting flocks of listeners ever since her debut ‘I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris’, that was released in 2012, and has only made a bigger name for herself in the nine years that have passed since then. ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ sees her breaching into a new territory while still residing in the safe net of her previous sound, making it an album to introduce her to a new audience and a pleasing one to entertain her already exciting fanbase.
8/10
Words: Lauren Dehollogne
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