Courtney Barnett: Things Take Time, Take Time

- Perhaps in response to impatient fans, songwriter extraordinaire Courtney Barnett has titled her third and latest album, Things Take Time, Take Time. However, even with the extra time afforded by lockdowns, or perhaps because of its straitened circumstances, the songs are minimalistic and seem as if they spent little time in gestation. Rising to prominence on the back of a style both verbose and aggressive, the new album is a significant shift. Gone are the detailed observations which have been replaced with simplistic lyrics and sparse arrangements. It’s an album that champions the adage, less is more.

Beginning on the uncharacteristic beat of a drum machine, opener Rae Street is still vintage Barnett. Centred around a twangy electric guitar and featuring her trademark Aussie drawl, it features Barnett’s most finely observed lyrics on the album. Playing the role of sentinel from inside her home, she takes in the street from her window as she states, “Next door the kids run amok / the mother screams “don’t you ever shut-up?”.” Elsewhere, songs like Sunfair Sundown, Before You Gotta Go, and If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight have a lackadaisical, jangly feel. Reminiscent of The Velvet Underground, the lyrics are simple and the melodies are catchy. Before You Gotta Go is a saccharine love song built on a twangy guitar riff as Barnett opines, “you’re always on mind”.

While the album has many songs that play like catchy jingles, there are some more interesting moments peppered throughout. On third track, Here’s The Thing and fifth track Turning Green, the guitars are spare and effective in their nuance. Particularly in the visceral guitar solo on Turning Green, which sounds like something off a Wilco album. Concluding on the piano ballad Oh The Night, the record ends on a gentle and tender note without reaching the emotional heights of her previous releases. Overall, it’s a mild affair, but fun and one that Barnett seems content to make.

- Jon Cloumassis.