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Sep 29, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Courtney Barnett is releasing a new album, Things Take Time, Take Time, on November 12 via Mom + Pop Music/Marathon Artists. Now she has shared its third single, “Write a List of Things to Look Forward To,” via a video for it featuring the Australian musician receiving lots of fun things in the mail. Christina Xing directed the video. Watch it below.

A press release says the song “takes its name from the technique one of Barnett’s friends advocated for her to get her out of a depressive funk, and paints a bittersweet picture of small wins and the circle of life. ‘Nobody knows why we keep trying,’ she sings. ‘And so on it goes, I’m looking forward to the next letter that I’m gonna get from you.’ It strikes the exact chord between wistfulness and acceptance, and points to a deeper level of complexity in Barnett’s songwriting.”

Barnett adds: “I found a deeper communication with people in my life—deeper conversations. And a new level of gratitude for friendships that had been there for so long that I had maybe taken for granted.”

Previously Barnett shared the album’s first single, “Rae Street,” via an amusing video where Barnett plays multiple characters. “Rae Street” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. She also shared a different fan-sourced video for “Rae Street” featuring footage shot out various fans’ windows. Then she shared its second single, “Before You Gotta Go,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. The Barnett was the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where she and her backing band performed “Rae Street” remotely from a cozy table lamp-lit room. Then she shared an amusing video for “Before You Gotta Go” and also launched a stem mixer on her website (check it out here).

Barnett’s last album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, was released back in May 2018 via Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk! Records. It was our Album of the Week and one our Top 100 Albums of 2018.

Things Take Time, Take Time was written over a two-year period and was recorded in Sydney, Northern NSW, and Melbourne in late 2020/early 2021 with the aid of Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa (who is also Australian and also worked with Kurt Vile, John Grant, Cate Le Bon, The xx, and others). W.A.M. Bleakley directed the “Rae Street” video.

A previous press release hyped up the album this way: “Things Take Time, Take Time is yet another assured leap forward for Barnett; a breakthrough really, but not in the ways you might expect. This is Barnett at her most creative and adventurous—an exquisite look at Courtney’s private world, and consequently her most beautiful and intimate record to date, with songs dealing unabashedly with love, renewal, healing and self-discovery.”

Read our 2018 cover story on Courtney Barnett here.

Read our ranking of the 10 best Courtney Barnett songs.

Courtney Barnett North American Tour Dates:

Sat November 27 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
Mon November 29 - Las Vegas, NA @ Brooklyn Bowl with Bedouine
Tues December 1 - Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory with Bedouine
Thurs December 2 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Depot with Bedouine
Sat December 4 - Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren with Bartees Strange
Sun December 5 - San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park with Bartees Strange
Thu, December 9 - Los Angeles, CA - The Theater at Ace Hotel with Warpaint
Fri December 10 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Ace with Bartees Strange
Sun December 12 - Oakland, CA @ The Fox with Bartees Strange
Tues December 14 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount with Bartees Strange
Wed December 15 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore
Sat January 22 - Minneapolis, MN @ Palace Theatre with Julia Jacklin
Sun January 23 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre with Julia Jacklin
Thurs January 22 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
Tues January 25 - Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple Theatre with Julia Jacklin
Wed January 26 - Columbus, OH @ Express Live with Julia Jacklin
Sun January 30 - Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
Fri January 28 - Nashville, TN @ Ryman with Julia Jacklin
Sat January 29 - Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern with Julia Jacklin
Mon January 31 - Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel with Shamir
Wed February 2 - Washington DC @ 9:30 Club with Shamir
Thurs February 3 - Washington DC @ 9:30 Club with Shamir
Fri February 4 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Met with Julia Jacklin
Sat February 5 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall with Julia Jacklin
Mon February 7 - New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
Tues February 8 - Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre with Shamir
Thurs February 10 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground with Shamir
Fri February 11 - Montreal, QC @ Mtelus with Shamir
Sat February 12 - Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall with Shamir

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