Album Review: Courtney Barnett - 'Things Take Time, Take Time'

Courtney Barnett makes a triumphant return to hipster hearts with Things Take Time, Take Time. This sprawling album is uncharacteristically wide in scope but with the familiar wit and sincerity that has won Barnett legions of fans across the world.

Barnett retains her knack for writing compellingly simple choruses. The melodies don’t pull up any trees — but that’s not what we’re here for, is it? The vision of Things Take Time, Take Time extends far beyond the mundanities that have taken up Barnett’s focus on previous albums.

Album opener Rae Street’s repeated idiomatic refrain that “time is money and money is no man’s friend” is simultaneously profound and obtuse. Its existential reach is blunted by the gendered expression. I don’t for a minute think that Barnett has used “no man” instead of “no one” lightly. She’s too clever for that.

Deceptively straightforward utterances are littered throughout this album. From “Here’s The Thing”’s proclamation that “I’m not afraid of heights, maybe I’m just scared of falling” would be cliched in anyone else’s hands but Barnett gets away with it. She’s too clever, by half, to limit herself to platitudes.

The soundscapes are less guitar-driven than usual, although that garage sound still comes through in “Write a List of Things to Look Forward To”. Rather than try to compete, the delicately jangly guitars accentuate Barnett’s far-reaching observations.

The album’s closing song “Oh The Night” is both its logical end and focal point. The lightly cadenced verses collapse around a groundswell of gentle noise. This is Barnett at her most meditative and peaceful, weaving an album of simple songs that linger long in the mind.

Words by Dylan Wilby

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