Courtney Barnett has returned with “Before You Gotta Go”, the second single off her forthcoming album Things Take Time Take Time. The Australian singer-songwriter’s third studio LP is out on November 12th via Mom+Pop Music/Marathon Artists.
Similar to the album’s lead single “Rae Street“, “Before You Gotta Go” sees a further mellowing out for Barnett. Whereas she originally made a name for herself with heavily distorted riffs and searing vocal animosity on songs like “Pedestrian At Best” from her 2015 full-length debut Sometimes I Just Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit, here Barnett has settled down and pointed her talents in a new direction. The song’s straightforward lyricism paints a portrait of a relationship on the rocks.
Though the song’s subject matter of a domestic squabble isn’t a particularly cheerful one, Barnett manages to make it so with lush instrumentation. The lyrics do their part to reinforce a more joyous mood as—even though a fight just happened—Barnett still follows the golden rule of never leaving the room angry, singing after her partner, “If something were to happen my dear, I wouldn’t want the last words you hear, to be unkind, to be unkind.” An interview with The Independent published on Tuesday characterized “Before You Gotta Go” as Barnett’s first-ever love song, as the artist conceded that Things Take Time Take Time is her most vulnerable offering to date.
“This extra level of self-reflections and depth [during lockdown] gave me an unobstructed view of myself that maybe before, in other circumstances, I could just avoid by distracting myself with people or activities or going out somewhere,” she told The Independent. “There was none of that. This was a forced, more direct look into myself. Certain levels of that were probably very confronting but I tried to make the most of the parameters set for me.”
Listen to the new Courtney Barnett single “Before You Gotta Go” below or on your preferred streaming platform.
Courtney Barnett – “Before You Gotta Go”
[Video: Courtney Barnett]
[H/T The Independent]
The post Courtney Barnett Doesn’t Go To Bed Angry On New Single “Before You Gotta Go” [Listen] appeared first on L4LM.
