After a mysterious album teaser online and indie record stores worldwide unexpectedly receiving vinyl copies of a previously unheard song, Courtney Barnett announces her second studio album Tell Me How You Really Feel, and shares its scathing lead single ‘Nameless, Faceless’. Watch the video below!
In Tell Me How You Really Feel Barnett has revealed a thrilling and unexpected shift. From its title (A question? An order?) to the cover image, Barnett sets a new tone. There’s a new-found directness, a muscularity to the instrumentation, a tenderness in her voice and a boldness to the lyrics which speaks to Barnett entering a 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.
First single ‘Nameless, Faceless’ is an infectious punk rock anthem simmering with indignation and sarcasm as it examines the phenomenon of anonymous internet trolls. Through song, Barnett is using the medium she knows best to return fire.
Every lyric is memorable as Barnett quotes one of the more creative burns she’s received in a comments section, “I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and spit out better words than you” It would be pure comedy if it didn’t invariably and insidiously cross over into anxiety about ones safety in the real world… illustrated perfectly by the chorus which borrows from a famous Margaret Atwood quote “I want to walk through the park in the dark / Men are scared that women will laugh at them / I want to walk through the park in the dark / Women are scared that men will kill them / I hold my keys between my fingers”.
Tell Me How You Really Feel will be released on May 18th and is now available for pre-order here: https://courtney-barnett.lnk.to/tmhyrfpr.
Stream / purchase ‘Nameless, Faceless’ here.
