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Creature of Habit is the fourth solo album from Courtney Barnett, written after a period of severe writer's block in which she left Melbourne for Los Angeles, closed her label Milk! Records, and questioned whether she wanted to keep making music at all. She eventually retreated to Joshua Tree, where she imposed a daily discipline: coffee, dream journaling, then writing a new song each morning. She was reading Oliver Sacks and Michelle Carr's Nightmare Obscura at the same time, drawn to how dreams work with symbols and metaphors rather than stating things directly. A praying mantis that appeared on her door frame one morning became the record's central image and cover art.

The album was produced by John Congleton, Stella Mozgawa, and Marta Salogni, with Mozgawa on drums, piano, and synth alongside Barnett's guitar, bass, and Wurlitzer. Flea plays bass on 'One Thing At A Time,' Katie Crutchfield from Waxahatchee sings on 'Site Unseen,' and Floating Points contributes synth and drum machine on 'Same.' It's a loud, guitar-forward record and a clear move from the acoustic quiet of Things Take Time, Take Time.

In a recent interview with Fee B-Squared on Triple R's Maps, Barnett described each album as a document of a particular time and place. This one documents a songwriter leaning into doubt and confusion, then choosing joy. It's shaped by therapy, dream research, and watching herself in the 2022 documentary Anonymous Club. Courtney said it showed a version of herself she wanted to change.