Courtney Barnett

For my listening pleasure I always catch the ever stimulating Indie Wonderland and get my weekly indie fix of something old, something new, something obscure and something that is most definitely wow. And last week's show was no exception, as my ears were alerted to a "wow" moment that goes by the name of Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett...

As you'd expect from an Aussie, the 25-year old Melbourne based singer-songwriter has a rye sense of humour married to a keen eye for the vagaries of day-to-day life... 

Or as Pitchfork so eloquently puts it...

...shambling folk songs about the dangers of gardening, the benefits of masturbation, and the quiet crises of modern relationships...

Barnett has just released her debut album "The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas" - or combined her two earlier EP's - depending on your point of view - on Milk! Records, the label she founded in 2012 with the aim of supporting local bands - as well as, I suspect providing an outlet for her own prodigious talent...

Not sure that I agree with Pitchfork's description of "shambling folk songs", listening to the album (or EP or pair of EPs, whatever...), what strikes me is that first and foremost she's a true Wordsmith and poet (which in Pitchfork's defence you could argue most great folk singers are...) But it's that the eye for detail and the almost deadpan delivery that forces you to hang on every word - check out sample lyrics here.

This girl can write, right?

And yes, I'm going to say listen to "Avant Gardener" - this was after all the track I heard and that set me off on a Google-driven search of t'interweb. Every interview and review I found name checks this track... And actually for a good reason. It's that good (but don't take my word for it, listen below)

But it's also musically that Courtney stand head and shoulders above the herd. Sure there's an acoustic guitar weaving in and out, but there are proper (electric) guitar riffs, drums and pianos... a little bit of rock, pop, country, the blues and a lot of indie sensibility - there's something new to pick out on every song. This is a girl who refuses to be constrained by a musical straight-jacket...

I mentioned that Courtney's a twenty-first century poet. She has that same lyrical dexterity that made me take notice of artists as diverse as John Cooper Clarke, Space (a criminally underrated band) and (purely by coincidence) Billy Bragg. I say coincidence - turns out that Courtney will be supporting Billy on his tour down-under (Blog stats would suggest that I'm not exactly well read in that part of the world - but on the basis I may get some future page hits for this post - but after watching us Poms retain The Ashes - you could do a lot worse than catch the pair of them...)

Me? I'm planning on seeing Courtney when she plays L.A. during her forthcoming US mini-tour.

Courtney Barnett website

Milk! Records on Bandcamp