Track #8 of Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit is the ominously titled ‘Dead Fox.’
Turns out this is a protest song about the ill effects of corporations on her native Australia. Barnett paints a picture of pesticide-injected apples, animals mowed down by freight trucks and cities bypassed by highways. The one-line chorus is a neat play on the sticker you often see on the back of large trucks that reads “if you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you.”
Continuing my discovery of Courtney Barnett’s studio album debut, I arrive at track #6, titled ‘Aqua Profunda!’
These are the most conversational lyrics so far, a little first-person narrative about a woman who tries to catch the eye of somebody swimming alongside her in a public pool, only to pass out while attempting an acrobatic move. I first pictured a man as her object of affection, but I’ve read that Barnett is gay and she could very well be writing here about two women.
Today I’m wrapping up the first week of what I think has been a successful new feature on the blog — exploring a brand-new album for the first time through Song of the Day entries.
The album in question is Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, and its first four songs have all been good to great. Let’s see if she can close out the week on a high note, with track #5, titled ‘Depreston.’
My first listen to Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit has been rewarding so far. And now we arrive at a 7-minute track called ‘Small Poppies.’
Few songs are worthy of a 7-minute running time. Even ‘Hey Jude’ is about three minutes too long. And ironically, this seems to be the least wordy track on the album so far. Will Barnett earn those minutes with this track? Let’s find out…
The first two songs of Courtney Barnett’s new album are very similar. Fast, streamlined, heavy on bass and drums, lots of lyrics more spoken than sung. Approaching Song Three, I wonder if we’ll get more of the same or if we’re in for a stylistic shift.
I’ve heard great albums that hit basically the same note throughout, and great albums that land all over the place. I don’t even have a preference for one over the other. But it’s always interesting to find out which kind of album a new one is.
Meet Me In Montauk 