Courtney Barnett's Sophomore Album TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL Out Today

Today marks the release of the highly anticipated album, Tell Me How You Really Feel from Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Courtney Barnett

Over the course of just a few years Barnett has become internationally renowned for her distinctive and acclaimed musical lexicon. Her debut album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit saw her top year-end lists and sell out shows to adoring audiences on five continents. She played the most iconic and revered festival stages, won the Australian Music Prize, J Award for Album Of the Year, APRA's Songwriter Of the Year and four ARIA Awards. The album was even nominated for a Grammy and a BRIT Award. In the meantime she's worked on music with the likes of Jack White, The Breeders and Jen Cloher as well as releasing last year's masterful collaboration album with US songwriter Kurt Vile, Lotta Sea Lice. Even her label Milk! Records is revered worldwide.

So... how do you follow all that up?

In Tell Me How You Really Feel, Barnett has revealed an exhilarating shift and a bold step forward. From its title to the striking cover image - a blood-red tinted self-portrait in uncomfortably tight close up - Barnett reveals a new-found confidence and perspective. 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.

There's a muscularity to the instrumentation, a tenderness in her voice and a boldness to the lyrics. It speaks to Barnett entering a remarkable new phase of her musical evolution.Take storming first single "Nameless Faceless" for instance, a punk rock anthem simmering with barely contained anger at women's continued dehumanization at the hands of a male dominant society and her own treatment at the hands of anonymous trolls. Similarly, the brutal "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch," where Barnett barks "Sit down and shut up/ it's all the same/ you never change" and later, "I can only put up with so much s" is the most eviscerating two minutes of her oeuvre to date.

Which is not to say that there aren't moments of grace and introspection - on "Crippling Self Doubt and A General Lack of Self Confidence" she grapples with the responsibility of being an unexpected spokesperson of her generation, one whose every word is open to scrutiny and examination, somehow turning the chorus of "I don't know/ I don't know/ I don't know anything" into something both humorous and peculiarly affecting. And on the gorgeous album closer 'Sunday Roast', she sings with great tenderness about the weekly meal she and her friends cook for each other in Melbourne. It is a stirring track - gentle and warm, filled with the sense that over the course of this record, we have moved from hopelessness to something quietly, softly optimistic. "Keep on keeping on, you know you're not alone", runs the refrain.

After gracing the covers of Under The Radar, FLOOD and Performer Magazine, last night Barnett performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a remarkable fourth time and she's currently in the middle of a series of sold out USA and European album-launch shows. Full tour dates and ticketing below.

LISTEN / BUY HERE
UPCOMING SHOWS
USA Album Launches
Sat 19 May - Brooklyn, NY at Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT) %
Mon 23 May - Chicago, IL at Preston Bradley Hall at Tiffany Dome (SOLD OUT) ^^

UK and Europe
Sat 25 May - Belfast at BBC's Biggest Weekend (tix)
Tues 29 May - Leeds at O2 Academy (tix) +
Wed 30 May - Brussels at Ancienne Belgique (tix) +
Thurs 31 May - Utrecht at Tivoli Vredenburg Ronda (tix) +
Sat 2 June - Glasgow at Barrowlands (tix) +
Sun 3 June - London at All Points East Festival (tix)
Mon 4 June - Manchester at Academy (tix) +
Tues 5 June - Bristol at O2 Academy (tix) +
Wed 6 June - London at Roundhouse (tix) +
Sat 9 June - Paris at Bataclan (tix) +
Sun 10 June - Luxembourg at Den Atelier (tix) +
Mon 11 June - Berlin at Astra Kulturhaus (tix) +
Wed 13 June - Cologne at Live Music Hall (tix) +

USA and Canada
Fri 6 July - Winnipeg, MB at Winnipeg Folk Festival (tix)
Sat 7 July - Des Moines, IA at 80/35 Festival (tix)
Mon 9 July - Toronto, ON at Danforth Music Hall (tix) ^
Tues 10 July - Toronto, ON at Danforth Music Hall (SOLD OUT) ^
Wed 11 July - Ottawa, ON at Ottawa Blues Festival (tix)
Thurs 12 July - North Adams, MA at MASS MoCA (tix) ^
Sat 14 July - Columbus, OH at Newport Music Hall (tix) ^
Sun 15 July - Louisville, KY at Forecastle Festival (tix)
Tues 17 July - St. Louis, MO at The Pageant (tix) ^
Wed 18 July - Kansas City, MO at Truman (tix) ^
Fri 20 July - Chicago, IL at Pitchfork Music Festival (tix)
Sat 21 July - Minneapolis, MN at Surly Brewing Festival Field (tix) ~#
Sun 22 July - Edmonton, AB at Intersteller Rodeo (tix)
Tues 24 July - Washington DC at The Anthem (tix) ^#
Wed 25 July - Brooklyn, NY at Celebrate Brooklyn Prospect Park (tix) ^#
Thurs 26 July - Portland, ME at State Theatre (tix) #
Sat 28 July - Newport, RI at Newport Folk Festival (SOLD OUT)
Sat 29 Sept - Denver, CO at Ogden Theatre (tix) ++
Sun 30 Sept - Denver, CO at Ogden Theatre (tix) ++
Tues 2 Oct - Phoenix, AZ at The Van Buren (tix) ++
Wed 3 Oct - San Diego, CA at The Observatory North Park (tix) ++
Fri 5 Oct - Los Angeles, CA at The Greek Theatre (tix) ++
Mon 8 Oct - Seattle, WA at Paramount Theatre (tix) ++
Wed 10 Oct - Vancouver, BC at Vogue Theatre (tix) ++
Fri 12 Oct - Portland, OR at Crystal Ballroom (tix) ++
Sun 14 Oct - Oakland, CA at Treasure Island Music Festival (tix)
Wed 17 Oct - Milwaukee, WI at Pabst Theater (tix) ++
Sun 21 Oct - Boston, MA at House of Blues (tix) ++
Tues 23 Oct - Philadelphia, PA at The Fillmore (tix) ++
Thurs 25 Oct - Nashville, TN at Marathon Music Works (tix) ++
Sat 27 Oct - Austin, TX at Stubb's (tix) ++

Australia and New Zealand
Fri 17 Aug - Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide (tix) *
Sat 18 Aug - Metropolis, Fremantle (tix) *
Weds 22 Aug - The Tivoli, Brisbane (tix) *
Thurs 23 Aug - Sydney Opera House (tix)
Sat 25 Aug - Sydney Opera House (tix)
Weds 29 Aug - The Powerstation, Auckland (tix) *
Thurs 30 Aug - Opera House, Wellington (tix) *
Sat 1 Sept - Festival Hall, Melbourne (tix) *

% with Palehound
^^ with LALA LALA
+ with Loose Tooth
^ with Vagabon
~ with Lucy Dacus
# with Julien Baker
++ with Waxahatchee
* with East Brunswick All Girls Choir

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