Creature of Habit

Courtney Barnett’s fourth album is the loud, infectious counterpoint to its reflective predecessor, 2021’s <i>Things Take Time, Take Time</i>. Where that record was conceived in her Melbourne apartment during COVID lockdowns, <i>Creature of Habit</i> was penned amid the vast desert expanses of Joshua Tree, California. There, Barnett wrote material infused with the excitement of living in America, offset by a needling sense of doubt about her creative direction. Adding to the weight of the moment was her 2023 decision to wind down her Milk! Records label, making the whole experience a delicate balance between celebrating a new adventure and confronting the unease of profound change. That anxiety is reflected in spiky opener “Stay in Your Lane” as Barnett sings, “Feels like I’m going backwards/Each day I preach my practice/And still it seems I wasn’t ready for this.” “Mantis” charts a moment of encouragement during the process after she spotted a praying mantis in her kitchen and took it as a sign she was on the right path. Laden with indie-rock hooks (“Same”, “Site Unseen”) and Barnett’s trademark self-deprecation (“I know I’ve got a sensitive heart/I’m always picking it apart, when I throw it to the vultures/They don’t want it either,” she sings on “Sugar Plum”), the album ends on a note of optimism with “Another Beautiful Day”: “Reborn, every morning/Still somehow getting older...wish we’d thought to bring/Something to bottle up this moment.”