Courtney Barnett
specializes in miniatures, which is why her 2015 debut,
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
, was such a wonder: with barbed words and gnarled guitars, she made everyday minutiae seem compelling. Three years in the making -- it was delayed in part due to a 2017 collaboration with
Kurt Vile
-- the 2018 sequel,
Tell Me How You Really Feel
, plays like the flip image of its predecessor. Everything about
seems muted, whether it's the grungy stomp of
Barnett
and her band -- a group that remains steadfastly and proudly stuck in the glory days of '90s alt-rock -- or her words, which now seem to meander to a point instead of cutting to the quick. Sometimes, a hook or a clever line cuts through the amiable haze -- and "Charity," with its chorus of "so subservient I make myself sick," manages to blend both. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine