Courtney Barnett Announces New Album With A Collage Video For 'Nameless, Faceless'

You've no doubt seen this quote, from author Margaret Atwood, invoked whenever its stark truth becomes reality: "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." It cuts to the fragility and hegemony of the male ego, and the primal fear of retaliation that women suffer through because of it. (This extends not just to physical spaces, but online, to men cowering behind keyboards. )

Courtney Barnett has always been equally cutting, and funny, as a lyricist, her observations about the boredom and banality — but also the love and hope — of life are so direct that they become surreal. Today she announces a new album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, just a year after her breezy collaboration with Kurt Vile, with a video for "Nameless, Faceless."

"I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and spit out better words than you," she sings over a bouncy riff, as director Lucy Dyson animates a collage of hot dogs and cherry-topped whip cream (subtle!), letters and Barnett in a serious side-eye. Barnett adapts Atwood in the grungy punk chorus:

I want to walk through the park in the dark
Men are scared that women will laugh at them
I want to walk through the park in the dark
Women are scared that men will kill them
I hold my keys between my fingers

Barnett's darkly observational humor remains in the corners of the verses, but is heightened by a real anxiety, clutching at her keys and ready to strike.

Tell Me How You Really Feel comes out May 18 via Milk! Records and Mom + Pop. Track list below:

1. Hopefulessness
2. City Looks Pretty
3. Charity
4. Need a Little Time
5. Nameless, Faceless
6. I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch
7. Crippling Self Doubt and a General Lack of Self-Confidence
8. Help Your Self
9. Walkin' on Eggshells
10. Sunday Roast

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