Courtney Barnett – ‘Creature of Habit’ album review: Australia’s slacker rock bard is on fine form
While Australian indie icon Courtney Barnett has always had an uncanny knack for being able to write insightful and relatable lyrics that are dashed with humour, it’s never been without a sense of introspection creeping through. On her fourth solo studio album, Creature of Habit, we’re treated to a little more of her sensitive side rather than the sardonic joker she portrayed herself as in her earlier work.
The Skinny: This isn’t unknown territory for Barnett, with her last full-length project, Things Take Time, Take Time, being comparatively downbeat and languid when pitted against her first two albums, but what that album lacked in a sense of variety is made up for in her newest material. Straddling many of the different sonic paths she’s previously taken while simultaneously introducing fresher ideas, the deeper soul-searching has a much greater impact when there’s variety in her compositions.
Creature of Habit kicks off in a far more raucous fashion, but not necessarily in a way that echoes Sometimes I Sit and Think… or Tell Me How You Really Feel, with its fuzzed-out bass tone giving an immediate sense of urgency. From here on, the running order interchanges between Barnett’s more contemplative mood and the more anthemic styles that she seems to want to gradually bring back into her output, and this range of atmospheres is far kinder to the overall potency of her ideas.
Several of the songs found on Creature of Habit feel as though they were found in the breeze, such is the ease with which they appear to flow out of Barnett’s imagination and onto the record. They’re not so much accidents that she happens to stumble across, but instead, they place emphasis on her innate ability to instinctively pick up on a passing thought and let everything naturally take its course. One of her collaborators on the album, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, approaches her craft in a similar manner, and the fact that they bounce off each other so well on ‘Site Unseen’ is testament to how much better she is when malleable rather than restrictive.
Having left her native Melbourne for Los Angeles between albums, and consequently choosing to pull the plug on her independent label, Milk! Records, Barnett has been through a significant amount of upheaval and change in her life that has directly inspired some of the lyrical themes of the album. While large portions are dedicated to reflecting on these developments, it doesn’t get too bogged down in figuring out what all of this means for her future.
Barnett evidently wants things to get better and easier to navigate on songs like ‘Mostly Patient’, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to amble around waiting for that change to happen, and consequently, there are moments where it feels as though she’s being proactive about embracing these changes. No matter how confusing or disorienting it might be to have all of these feelings at once, merely accepting this as how her life is going to be from now on leads to a more formulaic approach. Fortunately, Barnett tackles everything head-on, and it does wonders for the overall charm of the record.
Standout Track: ‘Same’
The Verdict: As you’d expect from any artist who has been in the spotlight for over a decade, changes have to be incorporated to prevent any stagnation, and while these aren’t always going to work for an artist, Barnett manages to navigate all of the pitfalls of entering a new chapter without truly sacrificing her identity as a songwriter, and proves that she’s got plenty in the tank to keep doing this for another decade at least.
Release Date: March 27th, 2026 | Producer: John Congleton, Stella Mozgawa & Marta Salogni | Label: Fiction Records
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