• News

• All

May 07, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Courtney Barnett

Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist Courtney Barnett is releasing a new album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, on May 18 (that’s only next week!) via Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk! Records. This past weekend she performed four songs on Live From Here, the public radio show hosted by Chris Thile formerly known as Prairie Home Companion before its named was changed to disassociate itself from former host Garrison Keillor after sexual harassment allegations against him. Barnett played all three singles from the new album (“Nameless, Faceless,” “Need a Little Time,” and “City Looks Pretty”), along with album track (and Record Store Day B-side) “Sunday Roast.” Check out all the performances below.

Don’t forget that Barnett is on the cover of our current print issue, the Spring 2018 issue. Pick up a copy now to read an in-depth interview with her about the new album.

Previously she shared its first single, “Nameless, Faceless,” via a video for the song. (It was our #1 Song of the Week.) Then she shared a video for another song from the album, “Need a Little Time,” which featured Barnett being sent out to space and was also our #1 Song of the Week. Then she shared another song from the album, “City Looks Pretty,” which was released on Record Store Day and was also our #1 Song of the Week.

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:

5/10 - Los Angeles, CA at The Sanctuary at Pico Union (SOLD OUT) &
5/12 - Acrosanti, AZ at Form Festival
5/14 - Austin, TX at Saengerrunde Hall (SOLD OUT) **
5/16 - Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer (SOLD OUT) %
5/19 - New York, NY at Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT) %
5/21 - Chicago, IL at Preston Bradley Hall at Tiffany Dome (SOLD OUT) ^^
5/25 - Belfast at BBC’s Biggest Weekend
5/29 - Leeds at O2 Academy +
5/30 - Brussels at Ancienne Belgique +
5/31 - Utrecht at Tivoli Vredenburg Ronda +
6/2 - Glasgow at Barrowlands +
6/3 - London at All Points East Festival
6/4 - Manchester at Academy +
6/5 - Bristol at O2 Academy +
6/6 - London at Roundhouse +
6/9 - Paris at Bataclan +
6/10 - Luxembourg at Den Atelier +
6/11 - Berlin at Astra Kulturhaus +
6/13 - Cologne at Live Music Hall +
7/6 - Winnipeg, MB at Winnipeg Folk Festival
7/7 - Des Moines, IA at 80/35 Festival
7/9 - Toronto, ON at Danforth Music Hall ^
7/10 - Toronto, ON at Danforth Music Hall (SOLD OUT) ^
7/11 - Ottawa, ON at Ottawa Blues Festival
7/12 - North Adams, MA at MASS MoCA ^
7/14 - Columbus, OH at Newport Music Hall ^
7/15 - Louisville, KY at Forecastle Festival
7/17 - St. Louis, MO at The Pageant ^
7/18 - Kansas City, MO at Truman ^
7/20 - Chicago, IL at Pitchfork Music Festival
7/21 - Minneapolis, MN at Surly Brewing Festival Field ~#
7/22 - Edmonton, AB at Intersteller Rodeo
7/24 - Washington DC at The Anthem ^#
7/25 - Brooklyn, NY at Celebrate Brooklyn Prospect Park ^#
7/26 - Portland, ME at State Theatre #
7/28 - Newport, RI at Newport Folk Festival (SOLD OUT)
9/29 - Denver, CO at Ogden Theatre ++
10/2 - Phoenix, AZ at The Van Buren ++
10/3 - San Diego, CA at The Observatory North Park ++
10/5 - Los Angeles, CA at The Greek Theatre ++
10/8 - Seattle, WA at Paramount Theatre ++
10/10 - Vancouver, BC at Vogue Theatre ++
10/12 - Portland, OR at Crystal Ballroom ++
10/17 - Milwaukee, WI at Pabst Theater ++
10/21 - Boston, MA at House of Blues ++
10/23 - Philadelphia, PA at The Fillmore
10/25 - Nashville, TN at Marathon Music Works
10/27 - Austin, TX at Stubb’s

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

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.