Courtney Barnett (16 and Over)

Courtney Barnett returns with Creature of Habit, a bold and generous new album that finds her embracing change with clarity, curiosity, and renewed purpose. Recorded in Joshua Tree and Los Angeles and shaped by instinct rather than over-planning, the record captures Barnett at her most open, channeling restless energy, hard-won optimism, and the quiet beauty of paying attention to life as it happens. Creature of Habit, Barnett’s fourth studio album, continues her lifelong inquiry into how to get out of your own way and truly feel your life, this time from a more compassionate, less binary place. Across sharp, driving songs and reflective moments alike, she explores transformation, uncertainty, and the small revelations that emerge through patience and observation. This album proves why Barnett is not only one of the most innovative songwriters of her time but undeniably one of the most impressive rock guitarists of her generation. In Barnett’s hands, fragments of everyday life become rich and riveting. She first earned critical acclaim with 2013’s The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, breaking into the mainstream with her 2015 debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, which garnered a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and remains a generational touchstone. She followed with the acclaimed collaborative album Lotta Sea Lice with Kurt Vile (2017), the politically charged Tell Me How You Really Feel (2018), and the introspective Things Take Time, Take Time (2021). A formidable live performer, Barnett has played major festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, Primavera, and Lollapalooza, bringing her incisive lyrics and virtuosic guitar work to audiences around the world.