I’m lucky that I live in Melbourne and got to see Courtney Barnett gigs in the early days, as well as a fair few times since then. I first clapped eyes on her when she was guitarist in Brent De Boer’s band, Immigrant Union, and then several times during the early EP days when Jen Cloher and Dan Luscombe from The Drones were in her band. When Sometimes… was released, it was a great continuation of those first couple of records. In the great indie snob cliché, I probably do think her old stuff is better than her new stuff. Maybe.

Looking at the track listing, here are a few random observations:

• Elevator Operator - I think I remember that the video was actually shot in the Nicholas Building, which is mentioned in the song. It’s a well known, old-ish building in the Central Business District of Melbourne. The kind of building that was one of the last holdouts to have someone working the lift/elevator. You would indeed take the 96 tram from the northern suburbs to get to this building.
• Pedestrian At Best - This video was shot at a small “adventure” theme park on the outskirts of Melbourne. It used to be called Alpine Toboggan Park, I forget what it is called now. I drove past it a few weeks ago and commented on its notoriety. The song is so droll about the whims of taste and opinion, as is the video
• Aqua Profunda! - There is a sign painted on the wall at the deep end of the Fitzroy open-air swimming pool that reads, “Danger. Deep Water. Aqua Profonda” and there is also a mural on the outside wall that also reads “Aqua Profonda”. The spelling is slightly different, but I choose to believe that there is a connection given the lyrics…which The Guardian confirms…see #2
• Depreston - I used to live not too far from Preston and I have a couple of friends who live there. You need more than a spare half a million to buy a fixer upper there, even back then. The other thing I also always pondered was, "What combination of coffees were not purchased to save “23 dollars a week?”
• Dead Fox - This references driving on the Hume Freeway between Melbourne and Sydney. Some of the freight trucks on that road are operated by the Linfox company. They often say “You are passing another Fox” on the back of them, as well as “If you can’t see me, I can’t see you”, referring to the safety mirrors of the trucks.

Although references to places in songs can sometimes be clichés, I do get a kick out of the ones that I pick up in Courtney Barnett’s music as they are usually quite subtle and she has a great knack of making the mundane, unusual, while also avoiding sentimentality.

I got hooked on this one from Pedestrian at Best. That’s a pretty unique track in her works with the punk shining through so heavily but I came to really enjoy the rest of the album. I’m a fan of her lyrical style and I like to describe it as Shower Thoughts, The Music:

More people die on the road than they do in the ocean, Maybe we should mull over culling cars instead of sharks, Or just lock them up in parks where we can go and view them

(from Dead Fox)

I haven’t loved her follow ups as much but she’s still a fun presence in a playlist. Saw her a few times live and she puts on a very solid rock show.

One of my favorite albums. Saw her about a year ago in concert and she puts on a fun show.

Elevator Operator is always fun time

My favorite song here is probably the most well known one. Pedestrian at Best. Her lyricism thoughout that song is really witty and I really like the rhyme schemes she incorporates into the song on top of the awesome guitar riff and feedback effects.

It’s almost like she’s rapping at times. In fact I’m gonna make a really weird comparison here. She reminds me of MF DOOM in this song with the multi syllable rhymes. Maybe I’m crazy but that’s what it reminds me of.

I also really like Small Poppies. It’s a really cool slowed down bluesy ballad with awesome guitars and maybe it doesn’t fit with the rest of the album but I think it works.

Every single song is at least good, usually great, but it pains me to say I think this is the last excellent release from her. I saw her in 2015 and it was a riot, then again in 2018 and was blown away by how exhausted she was. Maybe it’s gotten better but I don’t really enjoy any of her new music.

Bonus listening: Song Exploder episode featuring Courtney Barnett discussing the song Depreston.

Spotify link because songwhip doesn’t work for podcasts.

They say we should look out further, I guess it wouldn’t hurt us… We don’t have to live by all these coffee shops

Might I please point out that this ‘clever title’ is a rip-off of a Kliban cartoon.