Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has been on an upward spiral since she headed to New York’s CMJ Music Marathon festival in 2013, her furthest trip from home that was to pay for itself many times over landing big US festival spots.
She is now set to release her debut LP Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit on March 23rd, a follow-up to her critically acclaimed The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas released in 2013. What sets her apart is her lyrics, they take the mundane everyday existence and transform them into lines that don’t shy away from self-assessment…underlying it all is a sharp wit. We maybe have her parents to thank for whipping her off to Tasmania in her midteens which surely strengthened that rebellious streak and conviction to achieve her dreams which she carried on pursuing when she left to settle in Melborne.
She has just released a video for Pedestrian At Best , the first single on which she lets loose an internal monologue crammed with twisting rhymes, inside jokes and self-deprecation while she muses on the fleeting nature of fame and what may or may not come after (“I must confess I’ve made a mess of what should be a small success, but I digress. At least I tried my very best… I guess”). “Pedestrian…” also comes accompanied by a brilliant video by Charlie Ford, conceptualised by Barnett herself, in which she plays a depressed and incompetent clown, wandering around a carnival on her own.
Considering the response her EP made this new LP looks set to consolidate and strengthen her reputation in 2015. She’s touring the UK and Europe from March, dates below.
Tour Dates
March
23/03 – Album Launch Gallery Show London
25/03 – Paris, The Divan Du Monde
27/03 – Brighton, Concorde 2
28/03 – Bristol, The Fleece
29/03 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
30/03 – Sheffield, Leadmill
31/03 – Newcastle, Newcastle University
April
02/04 – Glasgow, Art School
03/04 – Manchester, Gorilla
04/04 – Dublin, Whelans
05/04 – Nottingham, Bodega
07/04 – Cambridge, Junction 2
08/04 – Norwich, Waterfront
09/04 – London, Electric Ballroom
12/04 – Berlin, Heimathefen
http://courtneybarnett.com.au/