Barns Courtney

A British performer and tunesmith whose sound merges Ed Sheeran’s introspective touch with the robust stomp of early Mumford & Sons and a pronounced atmospheric edge, Barns Courtney gained significant momentum in 2015 after his track “Fire” was placed on the soundtrack for Bradley Cooper’s film Burnt. That cut, joined by the single “Glitter & Gold,” helped focus notice on his first full-length release, the 2016 album The Attractions of Youth. He increased the scale and sheen for 2019’s 404 before revisiting that approach on the elaborate 2024 concept album Supernatural, which imagines a dystopian future.

Born Barnaby George Courtney in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, he remained in England only until the age of four, after which he spent ten years in Seattle, Washington, before resettling in the U.K. at fifteen. By the close of his teenage years he had fronted the indie outfits SleeperCell and Dive Bella Dive; the second of these secured a deal with Island Records, yet the imprint parted ways with both the band and Courtney before issuing any material. He subsequently performed as a solo singer/songwriter, supporting Libertine Carl Barat on one of his individual tours and Ed Sheeran across North America, while earning a living at PC World. After signing with Virgin, “Fire” reached the production team for Burnt and was chosen for the soundtrack, while the follow-up single “Glitter and Gold” surfaced concurrently.

Ahead of his debut album, Courtney put out the Dull Drums EP in the first months of 2017. The Attractions of Youth appeared that autumn, with production and engineering assistance from former Dive Bella Dive colleague Sam Bartle. February 2018 brought the single “Sinners,” co-written with Carl Barat, followed six months later by the pair of tracks “99” and “Good Thing.” He resurfaced in May 2019 with “You and I,” which led into the September arrival of his sophomore album 404. Crafted under quarantine conditions and marked by a more intimate arrangement, his subsequent release was the 2020 EP Hard to Be Alone. Courtney re-emerged in 2022 with the sly, hook-laden pop number “Supernatural,” which launched his ensuing album cycle. As further songs such as “Golden” and “Young in America” appeared over the following year, the overarching narrative took shape. His third studio effort and first concept album, Supernatural, arrived in July 2024 and unfolds through the perspective of a fictional cult leader navigating a dystopian realm.