It has been a stunning year for Courtney Barnett. Her debut LP – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit – was released in March to rave reviews, and it has been frequently featured around the top of many publication’s lists of the best albums of 2015. She’s sold out venues across the world during various international tours, and, as of the end of November, has won 4 ARIAs (Australian Recording Industry Association) for Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist, Best Independent Release and Best Cover Art.
With such momentum, it’s unsurprising to find that her show at The Ritz in Manchester on Monday night was a sell-out. Awkwardly picking her way towards her guitar and the microphone, she mutters a thank-you to the crowd that have cheered on her appearance. Famously an introverted character, there is little patter with the audience throughout, but the quality and energy of the setlist speaks for itself.
“Finishing the encore with the lively, chord-driven ‘History Eraser’ – another fan favourite from A Sea of Spilt Peas – Courtney Barnett is finishing this whole year in the consistently superb form we’ve come to expect.”
Opening with the single that her shot her to international acclaim, the breezy, slacker-rock tones of ‘Avant Gardener’ resonate around the venue. Barnett’s prowess as a lyricist is epitomised in this track – the winding, word-heavy poeticism of her vocals, thick with an undisguised Australian accent, sees her efforts to stave off mundanity with a spot of gardening thwarted by a bout of unexpected illness.
Matching the trippy, animated wall art projected behind the CB3 (Courtney Barnett and her band, of Andrew “Bones” Sloane on bass and drummer Dave Mudie), it seems that some of her songs, as the set progresses, translate from the records with psychedelic overtones.
‘Small Poppies’ exemplifies this tendency. The soaring breakdown at the end of the seven-minute track – accompanied by searing strobe lights and ominous, demoniac animations on the back wall – produces an incredible, thunderous wall of noise, against which Barnett near screeches her introspective reflections – “I don’t quite who I am, Oh but man I am trying… I used to hate myself, but now I think I’m alright… I dreamed I stabbed you with a coat hanger wire”. Clearly the darker side of her lyricism, it was truly as discomforting as impressive, as the crowd were left awestruck, and the loudest applause of the evening ensued.
“Her songs, as the set progresses, translate from the records with psychedelic overtones.”
The band went from strength to strength from here. Rattling through favourites from Sometimes… like ‘Dead Fox’, ‘Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party’, and ‘Pedestrian at Best’, it was great to see so many tracks included from the double EP A Sea of Spilt Peas. ‘Out Of The Woodwork’ and ‘Don’t Apply Compression Gently’ went down well, and the fuzzy ‘Canned Tomatoes (Whole)’ was an unexpected but valuable addition to the setlist.
Finishing the encore with the lively, chord-driven ‘History Eraser’ – another fan favourite from A Sea of Spilt Peas – Courtney Barnett is finishing this whole year in the consistently superb form we’ve come to expect. After such ubiquitous success for Sometimes I Sit And Think… it’s an exciting prospect what 2016 holds for her.
James Noble
