Melbourne’s Courtney Barnett first grabbed people’s attention with her 2013 release The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, which introduced the world to her laconic indie-rock observations. On her first album, she’s developed her shtick further and created a funny, acerbic but staunchly down-to-earth album. Comparisons could be drawn to Parquet Courts or even the early small-town musings of Alex Turner. Indeed, Depreston is a bit like A Certain Romance, crafting a story of Aussie inertia; while Elevator Operator paints a picture of LS Lowry-esque stick people as they meander in and out of her gaze. It’s a genuinely funny album, too, as Barnett crows: “Tell me I’m exceptional, I promise to exploit you / Give me all your money, and I’ll make some origami, honey,” on the single Pedestrian at Best. Most of the songs are spiky, punk-inflected indie, but there are more reflective moments, such as Kim’s Caravan, a seven-minute existential ode peppered with Barnett’s dense lyrical reflections. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is fun, intelligent and sets up Barnett as a voice who can tread between both high and low culture and treat them the same.
