Australian singer and songwriter Courtney Barnett has unveiled a double dose of new music with the release of singles Mantis and Sugar Plum ahead of her fourth studio album.
by Paul Cashmere
Courtney Barnett has given fans a significant insight into her next musical evolution, releasing two brand new tracks, Mantis and Sugar Plum, via Fiction. The double release serves as the third and fourth singles to be lifted from her highly anticipated fourth studio album, Creature Of Habit, which is locked in for a March 27 release.
The arrival of the new music finds Courtney Barnett navigating a period of immense transition. The tracks were written following her relocation from Australia to Los Angeles and the emotional closure of her long-running independent label, Milk! Records, which ceased operations at the end of 2023 after a storied twelve-year run.
Mantis is described as a pivotal moment for the record, born from a literal encounter with nature in her desert studio. Courtney Barnett explains that the track documents a moment of serendipity when a praying mantis visited her workspace, providing the creative spark needed to finish the album.
“I was feeling particularly lost while I was working on this song,” Courtney Barnett says. “One day, I was standing in the kitchen, making a coffee, when I noticed a little green praying mantis sitting on top of the doorframe. I had never seen one there in the desert house, so I took it as an important sign from the universe.”
After texting a photo of the insect to Stella Mozgawa, her frequent collaborator and Warpaint drummer, Courtney Barnett was encouraged to look up the symbolism of the creature. Finding that it represented patience and perseverance, she used the encounter to break through her writer’s block.
“I stood and spoke to the mantis for a while, it was a strange and enlightening moment that I’ll never forget. Eventually, I got back to writing, and finally I had the chorus to this song,” she says.
The second new offering, Sugar Plum, continues the album’s theme of self-reflection. The track explores Courtney Barnett’s life-long struggle with self-doubt, eventually giving way to a sense of optimism.
It follows the sonic template set by previous singles Stay In Your Lane and the Waxahatchee collaboration Site Unseen, which was released in January.
Courtney Barnett has come a long way since her early days in Melbourne grunge band Rapid Transit and her time in the psych-country outfit Immigrant Union with The Dandy Warhols’ Brent DeBoer. Her ascent to international stardom began in earnest with 2013’s The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas, followed by her 2015 debut album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, which earned her four ARIA Awards and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
Throughout her career, which includes the 2017 Kurt Vile collaboration Lotta Sea Lice and the 2021 instrumental project End Of The Day, Courtney Barnett has maintained a reputation for her signature deadpan delivery and witty, observational lyricism. Named after opera legend Nellie Melba, the Sydney born artist has moved from delivering pizzas and playing in Jen Cloher’s band to supporting The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park.
Creature Of Habit represents a bold attempt to document the “swirling confusion” of her recent life changes. The album was recorded as a way to explore how to move past internal obstacles to truly experience life.
Creature Of Habit will be released on March 27.
Creature Of Habit Tracklist
Stay In Your Lane
Wonder
Site Unseen (featuring Waxahatchee)
Mostly Patient
One Thing At A Time
Mantis
Sugar Plum
Same
Great Advice
Another Beautiful Day
