Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett debuted with two
EPs, I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris (2012) and
How to Carve a Carrot into a Rose (2013), summarized on
the double EP A Sea of Split Peas (2013).
Their songs introduced an articulate songwriter who can pen
quirky, witty and complex stories. At the same time, they introduced a
cohesive and pragmatic garage band that took inspiration from rock music of
the 1960s.
The slim guitar pattern of Lance Jr
(with the soon to be famous line "I masturbated to the songs you wrote")
harkens back to the Them's Gloria.
Add harmonizing vocals and Are You Looking After Yourself could be
a dreamy Mamas & Papas shuffle.
Scotty Says could be a blues-rock jam of the
Creedence Clearwater Revival.
There's good guitar noise in Canned Tomatoes (Whole)
but the seven minutes of Porcelain and the static repetition
of Ode To Odetta are hard to swallow.
The second EP opens with a misleading pop ballad of the teen-idol era,
Out Of The Woodwork
with stately rhythm and jazzy piano, but the rest is much more interesting:
Don't Apply Compression Gently is a folk-rock lullaby with vintage Farfisa organ,
Avant Gardener borrows the pulsation and the tone of the Velvet Underground, punctured by a brief, wildly distorted, guitar solo,
History Eraser sounds like the Pretenders covering Bob Dylan, and
David intones a martial rhythm and riff reminiscent of the Sixties revival of the Fleshtones generation.
The EP is closed by the dreamy, ethereal slow-core ballad Anonymous Club, perhaps to achieve some kind of symmetry with the opener.
Barnett's first album,
Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk, 2015),
betrays, first and foremost, a Velvet Underground fixation.
Pedestrian at Best sounds like a cross between the Velvet Underground's Sister Ray and Lou Reed's Dirty Blvd.
That Sister Ray rhythm is slown down to an almost reggae beat in An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York).
Lou Reed-ian overtones via Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers permeate also Dead Fox.
But it's the entire vocabulary of the first decade of rock music to be appropriated by Barnett's garage band.
Elevator Operator is like Sheryl Crow covering the Rolling Stones
Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party is an echo half a century later of countless stomping garage rave-ups.
The anthemic riff, the soaring refrain and the tinkling organ of Debbie Downer evoke psychedelic ditties of the 1960s.
The bluesy seven-minute Small Poppies has a guitar solo worthy of
the heroes of the 1960s, as is the psychedelic guitar solo at the end of Kim's Caravan.
Lotta Sea Lice (2017) was a collaboration with Kurt Vile that
yielded only a couple of interesting songs,
Continental Breakfast and Peepin' Tom.
Tell Me How You Really Feel (Milk, 2018)
lacks the punch and the verve of the previous one.
Hopefulessness is yet another variation on Lou Reed, but this time in slow motion (the song is more relevant for the long coda of noisy guitar), and
City Looks Pretty is yet another boogie a` la Velvet Underground
(with a two-minute bluesy instrumental coda that sounds like a completely
different song).
She does a good job of imitating Neil Young in the power-ballad Need a Little Time, but the songs sound
frequently amateurish, like the way she tries to sound
poppy in Crippling Self-Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence
and in Sunday Roast.
If this album had been recorded by a less hyped musician, it would have gone
unnoticed.
(Copyright © 2019 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Pierluigi Napoli)
La singer-songwriter australiana Courtney Barnett ha debuttato con due EP, I've
Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris (2012) e How to Carve a Carrot into a
Rose (2013), riassunti sul doppio EP A Sea of Split Peas (2013). Le
loro canzoni presentano una songwriter eloquente che riesce a scrivere storie
stravaganti, spiritose e complesse. Allo stesso tempo, presentano una garage
band compatta e pragmatica che si ispira alla musica rock degli anni ‘60. L’esile
pattern di chitarra di Lance Jr (con la subito celebre frase "I
masturbated to the songs you wrote") richiama Gloria dei Them. Basta aggiungere le armonie vocali
e Are You Looking After Yourself potrebbe essere uno shuffle sognante
dei Mamas & Papas. Scotty
Says potrebbe essere una jam blues-rock dei Creedence Clearwater Revival. C’e’ un
rumore di chitarra piacevole in Canned Tomatoes (Whole) ma i sette
minuti di Porcelain e la ripetizione statica di Ode To Odetta sono
difficili da mandar giu’.
Il secondo EP apre con una ingannevole ballata pop dell’era
dei teen-idol, Out Of The Woodwork con ritmo imponente e piano jazzato, ma
il resto e’ molto piu’ interessante: Don't Apply Compression Gently e’
una ninnananna folk-rock con un organo Farfisa vintage; Avant Gardener prende
in prestito la pulsazione e il tono dei Velvet Underground, trafitto
da un breve, selvaggiamente distorto, assolo di chitarra; History Eraser
suona come i Pretenders che fanno cover di Bob Dylan; e David
intona un ritmo marziale e un riff che ricordano il revival Sixties della
generazione dei Fleshtones. L’EP e’ chiuso dalla sognante,
eterea ballata slow-core Anonymous Club, forse allo scopo di realizzare
un sorta di simmetria con l’opener.
Il primo album della Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and
Think and Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk, 2015), lascia trapelare, innanzitutto,
una fissa per i Velvet Underground. Pedestrian
at Best suona come un incrocio tra la Sister Ray dei Velvet Underground e Dirty
Blvd di Lou Reed. Il ritmo
di Sister Ray e’ rallentato fino a diventare un battito quasi reggae in An
Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York). Sfumature Lou Reed-iane
per mezzo dei Modern Lovers di Jonathan
Richman permeano anche Dead Fox. Ma e’ l’intero vocabolario del primo
decennio della musica rock ad essere fatto proprio dalla garage band della
Barnett. Elevator Operator e’ come se Sheryl Crow facesse cover dei Rolling Stones, Nobody
Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party e’ un eco dopo mezzo secolo di
innumerevoli rave-ups garage pestanti. Il riff antemico, il refrain slanciato e
l’organo tintinnante di Debbie Downer evocano le canzoncine psichedeliche
degli anni ‘60. La bluesy Small Poppies, di sette minuti, ha un assolo di chitarra degno degli eroi degli anni
‘60, cosi’ come l’assolo di chitarra psichedelico alla fine di Kim's
Caravan.
Lotta Sea Lice (2017) e’ una collaborazione con
Kurt Vile che ha prodotto solo un paio di canzoni interessanti, Continental
Breakfast e Peepin' Tom.
Tell Me How You Really Feel (Milk, 2018) manca dell’impatto e
dalla verve del predecessore. Hopefulessness e’ ancora una variazione su
tema Lou Reed, ma questa volta al rallentatore (la
canzone e’ piu’ rilevante per la lunga coda di chitarre noisy), e City Looks
Pretty e’ ancora un boogie a’ la Velvet Underground (con una coda
strumentale blues di due minuti che sembra una canzone completamente diversa). Fa
un buon lavoro nell’imitare Neil Young nella power-ballad Need a Little
Time, ma le canzoni sembrano spesso amatoriali, come nel modo in cui prova
a suonare pop in Crippling Self-Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence e
in Sunday Roast. Se questo album fosse stato registrato da un musicista
meno pubblicizzato, sarebbe passato inosservato.
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