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Courtney Barnett, Tell Me How You Really Feel

Courtney Barnett, Tell Me How You Really Feel


There’s a newfound earnestness to Courtney Barnett’s sophomore full-length album of grungy indie rock. While her badassery is still unmistakeable, with plenty of caustic wit and wry sarcasm, the Melbourne songwriter establishes that she actually does care — enough that she paraphrases both Nelson Mandela and Margaret Atwood at key moments — on this deftly uneasy set of songs. The mixed reviews this album is receiving may reflect that people have put the singer into a box of impenetrable slacker cool, and don’t know what to do with a Courtney Barnett who rages against misogyny with quite so much passion or who offers her listener this much intimacy. Highlights: “City Looks Pretty,” “Nameless, Faceless,” “Sunday Roast”

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