Continuing her rapid rise to total world domination, there isn’t much that Courtney Barnett is still yet to to do. Since the release of her debut album Sometimes I Just Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, she has toured the world, performed on Ellen, accumulated thousands of new and devoted fans – all which saw her become one of the most successful and most loved Australian artists perhaps ever.
However, it seems she’s still got a few tricks up her sleeve, and this week released a new song. But it’s not just any new song. It’s a Jack White produced cover of Shivers, a track written by Roland S. Howard, and performed by Boys Next Door (one of Nick Cave‘s past bands). Her drawl sounds a lot more gloomy than Cave’s impassioned delivery; the opening lyric “I’ve been contemplating suicide / But it really doesn’t suit my style,” takes on a whole new, devastating feel.
Recorded at White’s Third Man Studios, the cover comes as a B-side to her new single, Boxing Day Blues Revisited; an epilogue of sorts to her previous song Boxing Day Blues heard on her album. The single comes as part of Third Man’s Blue Series, and in conjunction with Remote Control Records and Barnett’s label Milk! Records she runs alongside her partner Jen Cloher, will be released on October 16. Barnett will also be releasing a deluxe edition of her album on November 6, via Mom+Pop. Featuring unreleased live recordings of Barnett at New York’s Electric Lady Studios, a poster of the album art, four polaroids and more, this special edition will be one hot commodity. But, such is the power of Courtney Barnett, it seems just about everything she touches is.