Nine Perfect Minutes
CREATURE COMFORTS
"It's a really fine line between being a perfectionist and getting nothing done.” On her fourth album, Creature of Habit, Courtney Barnett set out to challenge one of her oldest habits: control. After years of arriving in the studio with songs largely mapped out, the Australian singer-songwriter decided to try something different: jump and believe the net would appear.
CREATURE COMFORTS
NINE PERFECT MINUTES
Courtney Barnett explores the space between habit and change
Jaan Uhelszki
"It's a really fine line between being a perfectionist and getting nothing done.”
On her fourth album, Creature of Habit, Courtney Barnett set out to challenge one of her oldest habits: control. After years of arriving in the studio with songs largely mapped out, the Australian singer-songwriter decided to try something different: jump and believe the net would appear. Something decidedly un-Courtney. She brought fragments instead of finished compositions, leaving room for accidents, detours, and the unexpected. Or, in her words, leaving room for the magic.
It sounded good in theory. In practice, Barnett discovered that taking her hands off the wheel wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as she’d imagined. Which is what makes Creature of Habit such a Courtney Barnett album.