Best album #3

Sometimes I sit and Think and Sometimes I just Sit 
by Courtney Barnett

Pedestrian at Best

This is the debut album from this 29 year old Australian. I was shocked that someone this talented and creative is releasing a first album at near 30. She's had a few EP's and played in a band but man she should have been up front. This for me is an old fashioned rock n roll guitar album with a little jam band sound at times. Other's have commented there is a lot of 90's bands in her work -Nirvana - Pearl Jam, I kind of see that but that wasn't my era, I hear Lou Reed and the Kinks but just a strong boom boom boom from the guitars- also lots of distortion in the sound which plays off her rambling fast paced lyrics. 

Barnett's allure is in how unremarkable she comes across, her voice isn't elite (but fits these songs perfectly), she writes about mundane every day things we all can relate to, Should I get up? Do I want to go out or stay in? Do I really want to live in the suburbs? What separates her from everyone else is she plays a wicked guitar, can write the hell out of a song and takes these mundane every day moments to an eventual jewel of an observation that means something. What's the saying "average people doing average things in a profound way"  Her songs are quite witty but you have to pay attention her stream of consciousness style goes quick, at times in rap like rhythm. It reminds me of the line from the old Mathew Modine move Vision Quest, when he's a high school wrestler. He can't understand why his fry cook mentor wants to see him wrestle at the state meet, the guys never taken a day off in his life. Modine says, "It's just 2 minutes on the mat that's all?" The fry cook blows back intensely with "It's not the 2 minutes it's what can happen in those 2 minutes." Barnett lets out 100% of what's she's thinking and seeing, we just have to trust her it's going somewhere. She also has this thing where she is good at combining 2 words to make a point. The first video Pedestrian at Best - "Don't put me on a pedestal, I'll only disappoint you"-  uses pedestal and pedestrian in same context to emphasize a theme. In the second video she's contemplating how her life would change to move to a suburb (Preston). 

Depreston

Elevator Operator

"I'm not suicidal, just idling insignificantly"