Courtney Barnett's instrumental biopic soundtrack still conveys a wealth emotion

She has influence but she is not an influencer; she is friendly but preserves an extremely private presence; and she’s maintained an incredible batting average through a ten-year career. Called “the voice of her generation”, Barnett is respected and revered by fans and peers alike. End of the Day, the instrumental album originally conceived as music for her film Anonymous Club, was reworked to form a single continuous piece that is strong enough to stand on its own.

Barnett recorded the ambient guitar and synth ideas that became End of the Day with her long-term collaborator Stella Mozgawa. They created something entirely unlike Barnett’s previous discography, but that sometimes reveals something recognizable, and familiar. Her style of guitar, simultaneously playful and dark, is present throughout the meditative piece. End of the Day reads almost as a journal entry, a view into the progression of a thought or a feeling. In this way, it sometimes loses the thread of interest and finds it again elsewhere. It feels incredibly intimate, and one must fight the urge to turn away at times; the sound sometimes fades to be almost silent, suggesting movement in and out of conscious thought, and awareness of being perceived.

While listeners might have been surprised by the nature of the three singles she released in July, this new territory for Barnett only proves that she is a master at her craft, striking gold again with her new foray into scoring. It is interesting that Barnett’s chosen soundtrack to the movie about her life is much more subdued than the rest of her discography. Where she has previously depended on frank and revealing lyrical turns to convey emotion, she here demonstrates that she can do the same with only her instrument.