Courtney Barnett on being forced to stop: ‘I felt myself opening up in a different way’

A breakup, a pandemic and a homecoming left the singer with time to sit and think. Her new album radiates the calmness and kindness she sought

At the beginning of 2020, while her home country burned and the rest of the world was waking up to a global pandemic, Courtney Barnett was in Los Angeles. She'd just completed an American tour; her plan was to find herself an apartment and stick around a little longer to work on songs.

Then - after it all got really wild" - she came home to Melbourne. For maybe the first time in six years - since her 2016 hit Avant Gardener turned her into the newest New Dylan" - Barnett finally had time to sit and think.