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Mar 15, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Courtney Barnett

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Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist Courtney Barnett is releasing a new album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, on May 18 via Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk! Records. Previously she shared its first single, “Nameless, Faceless,” via a video for the song. (It was our #1 Song of the Week.) Now she has shared another song from the album, “Need a Little Time,” via its video. Danny Cohen directed the clip, which features Barnett being sent out to space, where she performs the song floating amongst the planets. What’s curious, however, is that the people sending her to space look like aliens. Watch it below, followed by her upcoming tour dates.

Cohen had this to say about the video in a press release: “‘Need a Little Time’ has this soaring, floating feeling to it. I decided to play on the meaning of the song, Courtney needs some time away from herself (and you). I didn’t want to show Courtney leaving her friends/family/fans etc, it needed to be more metaphorical. Courtney floats through space and time, ends up in some isolated part of the universe. She finally has found some time alone, just Courtney and her guitar, singing in space without a care in the world.”

Before Tell Me How You Really Feel‘s announcement Barnett shared a new video that teased her new album. The two-and-a-half minute video featured Barnett in a room filled with different instruments, which she picked up to perform snippets of new songs. At the end the album title appeared on the screen. After that mysterious billboards for the album started to appear in major cities around the world. Select indie record stores worldwide then unexpectedly received vinyl copies of “Nameless, Faceless.”

A previous press release describes the album as such: “In Tell Me How You Really Feel, Barnett has revealed an exhilarating and unexpected shift. From its title (A question? An order?) to the unsettling cover image - a blood-red tinted self-portrait in uncomfortably tight close up - Barnett sets a different tone. There’s a new-found directness with this record, a muscularity to the instrumentation, a tenderness in her voice and a boldness to the lyrics. It speaks to Barnett entering a remarkable new phase of her musical evolution. She’s saying more, with less. Whereas once she examined the world through the prism of self-analysis, Tell Me How You Really Feel shifts that focus to those she interacts with - the good ones, the bad ones, the loved ones. Those she knows intimately and those who are strangers.”

Last year Barnett teamed up with American singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt Vile for the collaborative album, Lotta Sea Lice, which came out in October via Matador. (It was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2017.)

Read our 2017 interview with Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile on Lotta Sea Lice.

Barnett released her debut full-length album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, via Mom + Pop in 2015 and it landed at #6 on Under the Radar‘s Top 100 Albums of 2015 list.

Also read our joint interview between Barnett and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, from our Best of 2015 issue.

Courtney Barnett Tour Dates:

USA Album Launch Shows:

Sun 29th April - Fort Worth, TX at Fortress Festival
Fri 4th May - Atlanta, GA at Shaky Knees Festival
Sun 6th May - San Francisco, CA at August Hall (SOLD OUT) *
Thur 10th May - Los Angeles, CA at The Sanctuary at Pico Union (SOLD OUT) *
Mon 14th May - Austin, TX at Saengerrunde Hall (SOLD OUT) **
Wed 16th May - Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer (SOLD OUT) %
Sat 19th May - Brooklyn, NY at Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT) %
Mon 21st May - Chicago, IL at Preston Bradley Hall (Tiffany Dome) (SOLD OUT) ^^

Europe/U.K.:

Sat 25th May - Belfast at BBC’s Biggest Weekend
Tues 29th May - Leeds at O2 Academy +
Wed 30th May - Brussels at Ancienne Belgique +
Thu 31st May - Utrecht at Tivoli Vredenburg Ronda +
Sat 2nd June - Glasgow at Barrowlands +
Sun 3rd June - London at All Points East Festival
Mon 4th June - Manchester at Academy +
Tues 5th June - Bristol at O2 Academy +
Wed 6th June - London at Roundhouse +
Sat 9th June - Paris at Bataclan +
Sun 10th June - Luxembourg at Den Atelier +
Mon 11th June - Berlin at Astra Kulturhaus +
Wed 13th June - Cologne at Live Music Hall +

USA/Canada:

Tues 10th July - Toronto, ON at Danforth Music Hall ^
Weds 11th July - Ottawa, ON at Ottawa Blues Festival
Thurs 12th July - North Adams, MA at MASS MoCA ^
Sat 14th July - Columbus OH at Newport Music Hall ^
Sun 15th July - Louisville, KY at Forecastle Festival
Tues 17th July - St. Louis, MO at The Pageant ^
Wed 18th July - Kansas City, MO at Truman ^
Sat 21st July - Minneapolis, MN at Surly Brewing Festival Field ~#
Tues 24th July - Washington DC at The Anthem ^
Wed 25th July - Brooklyn, NY at Prospect Park Bandshell ^#
Sat 28th July - Newport, RI at Newport Folk Festival

* with Jay Som
** with Molly Burch
% with Palehound
^^ with LALA LALA
+ with Loose Tooth
^ with Vagabon
~ with Big Thief
# with Julien Baker

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