We got a pretty strong hint a few days ago that something new from Courtney Barnett was on the way, via a teaser video that was correctly speculated to reveal the title of her next album. Now, that’s been confirmed: Barnett has announced that her upcoming record, Tell Me How You Really Feel, will be out on May 18th via Mom + Pop, Marathon Artists, and Barnett’s own Milk! Records. The announcement was also accompanied by a wacky, cat-heavy, stop-motion video (directed and animated by Lucy Dyson) for “Nameless, Faceless,” a fun midtempo rock track that’s right in line with what we’ve come to expect from Barnett.
She spoke about how the song was inspired by a Margaret Atwood quote, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them; women are afraid that men will kill them”:
“I actually lifted it from an article, not knowing it was her quote. I didn’t know who she was until I saw The Handmaid’s Tale, and I didn’t make the connection until I was getting the album credits together. But I’d seen it a couple times in things I was reading, and I remember being like, ‘That is the strongest point.’ Because it’s so dumbed-down, it’s kind of funny — the way it flips is funny — even though it’s not a funny thing at all.”
She also talked more broadly about the album as a whole, saying that it’s about letting herself be in touch with her emotions:
“It’s definitely angry and frustrated and sad, and I was trying to actually feel those feelings, to go through them instead of pushing them away. I was really trying to use songwriting to do some work on myself in that area. There’s definitely more vulnerability on this one. I felt vulnerable writing it, even though I knew that, at the time, I was the only one seeing it, and I might never show it to anyone.”
Watch the video for “Nameless, Faceless” above, and below, find the Tell Me How You Really Feel album art and tracklist, as well as Barnett’s upcoming tour dates.
1. “Hopefulessness”
2. “City Looks Pretty”
3. “Charity”
4. “Need a Little Time”
5. “Nameless, Faceless”
6. “I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch”
7. “Crippling Self Doubt and a General Lack of Self-Confidence”
8. “Help Your Self”
9. “Walkin’ on Eggshells”
10. “Sunday Roast”
4/29 — Fort Worth, TX @ Fortress Festival
5/4 — Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
5/6 — San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
5/10 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Sanctuary at Pico Union
5/14 — Austin, TX @ Saengerrunde Hall
5/16 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
5/19 — Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
5/21 — Chicago, IL @ Preston Bradley Hall at Tiffany Dome
5/25 — Belfast, United Kingdom @ BBC Biggest Weekend
6/3 — London, United Kingdom @ All Points East
7/13 — Louisville, KY @ Forecastle Festival
7/28 — Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
