Barns Courtney has been hard at work during quarantine and today he surprised fans with the result: the four-track EP Hard To Be Alone, released by Capitol Records/EMI Records. Download / stream HERE. He also shared the official video for the title track. View the clip, which features footage from his 2019 worldwide tour, below.
“Five years ago, I sold all my things and gave up my apartment for a life on the road,” recalls Barns Courtney. “I made a family from strangers and a home in motels, and it’s honestly been the most terrifying and gratifying adventure I’ve ever experienced. Then the entire world went into lockdown.
“These past few months are in such stark contrast to life in transit that even my writing process has changed. I’ve found myself back at my roots, confronted with all manner of lost lovers and loneliness. As if the moment the waters calmed, all my demons swam up to the surface to take a look around. This EP has been a sort of catharsis for all that. In a roundabout way, this moment of stillness was just what I needed.”
While the songs are keenly observed, middle-of-the-night ruminations on choices made and lovers lost, this is by no means a quiet, stripped-down outing. The rousing ‘Missing You’ is punctuated by Barns Courtney’s primal rock ‘n’ roll howl while ‘Dopamine’ begins simply, with his deep, soul-shaking vocals atop piano, then swells to cinematic grandeur. Times may be unsettling, answers may prove evasive, but the rootsy, shuffling ‘Home’ offers a flickering hope, with Barns Courtney declaring, “I’m holding out for providence to come and put me right.”
Hailed by Rolling Stone as a “stomping, swaggering rock & roll balancing act teetering between blinding light and total darkness,” Barns Courtney has amassed over one billion global streams. His acclaimed 2017 debut album, The Attractions Of Youth, sold nearly 530,000 adjusted album units worldwide and contained the singles ‘Fire,’ ‘Glitter & Gold’ and ‘Golden Dandelions.’ The 2019 follow-up, 404, featured the hits ‘99’ – which has been streamed over 58 million times worldwide, entered the top 5 at Alternative radio and charted in the top 15 at AAA – and ‘You And I.;
Barns Courtney has performed on iconic US television shows as Conan, The Late Late Show with James Corden and Last Call with Carson Daly. Named Artist of the Year at the Music Week Sync Awards 2018, his songs have been heard in films (The Founder, Burnt), television shows (Suits, Lucifer, Netflix’s Safe) and advertising campaigns (Showtime, Cadillac, Miller Lite).
On the live circuit, his electric stage presence has seen him sell out iconic London venues such as Camden Assembly, Heaven, Dingwalls and Scala. Having previously opened for industry heavyweights such as The Who, Blur, The Libertines, Ed Sheeran, The Kooks, The Wombats and Elle King, Barns’ live performances prove to be unmissable.
Track Listing – Hard To Be Alone
1. Hard to be Alone
2. Home
3. Missing You
4. Dopamine
