If you’ve ever been in the precarious position of needing to drag someone along to a gig who’s either unsure or completely unaware of the artist’s music, then you’ll know the slight anxiety which lingered with me through this particular gig. Relieved to say – Courtney Barnett and her long-haired on-stage cronies delivered an impressive angst-filled, Aussie-rock set.
Off the back of much critical acclaim for her recent indie-rock LP ‘Tell me How You Really Feel’, Barnett immediately launched into the slow-burner starter track on this LP, ‘Hopefulness’. As a precursor for the rest of the night, Barnett displayed her qualities for revelling in heavy song crescendos which seemed very much in line with Barnett’s cited influences of such grunge bands as Nirvana and Hole. This was shortly followed by some more up-beat and softer indie tones of ‘City Looks Pretty’, ‘Avant Gardener’, and ‘Need a Little Time’, pushing the audience in an entirely different sonic experience. Through the night, it seemed like Barnett would orchestrate a constant pushing-and-pulling of the audience towards Hole-bursting grunge-filled songs, Kurt Vile-esque slacker folk songs, and Go-Betweens upbeat 80s jangle pop (including a cover of theirs).
‘I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch’, indisputably revealed the wearing influences of such grunge acts on the sleeves of Barnett – filling the venue with crunch-distorted guitars, heavy bass refrains, and (not to mention) the angsty song title too. Barnett then pulled to a polar opposite genre with slacker-indie/country tracks ‘Small Poppies’, ‘Small Talk’, ‘Depreston’, and ‘Are You Looking After Yourself’, which garnered an appropriate respite for the mid-working week audience after the tumultuous preceding songs. Whilst the songs may not have been the most memorable sonically, Barnett’s lyricism was ultimately able to receive the spotlight. Namely the song ‘Depreston’, Barnett’s overall criticism and cynicism for the riches and gentrification of her Melbourne hometown came to the fore, ‘if you’ve got a spare half million, you could knock it down and start rebuildin’. Perhaps a somewhat ironic topic for the crowd of Brixton to be singing about. However, where Barnett may have fallen short with some of her melodic vocal delivery, she certainly made up for in her poignant lyricism through each of her albums.
The beginning of the latter half of her set saw her cover the fellow-Aussie band The Go-Betweens’ with their song ‘Streets of Your Town’, fittingly conveying her lyrical narrative of being entrapped in suburban life and the ensuing gentrification in Australia. Whilst the following track ‘Kim’s Caravan’ passed me by fairly quickly, ‘Elevator Operator’ and ‘Charity’ restored Barnett’s more upbeat and charismatic tones. The latter song in particular, from her latest LP, markedly stated the maturity and strengths she’s gained with her latest songwriting. Shifting away from her more lo-fi sounds and scratchy vocals from records such as ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Think’, Barnett has grown into a catchy and intriguing songwriter epitomised by the track ‘Charity’ with an improved hook, flow, and production quality.
Once again, Barnett awkwardly shifted the audience back toward her older grunge-style repertoire for some of the last few songs of the set, starting with ‘Pedestrian At Best’. A fine song in its own right, Barnett undoubtedly kept the audience on their toes for an ever-changing sonic experience. This ultimately transcended into some good ol’ fashioned moshing revelled by the hardcore front-and-centre section of the crowd. For the encore, Barnett reverted back to her alt-country influences with an admirable solo cover of Gillian Welch’s song ‘Everything is Free’ which offered the final respite before launching into the last track of the night, ‘Nobody Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party’. Somewhat reminiscent of Oasis’ ‘Morning Glory’, with its lightly-distorted rolling guitar chords, upbeat drum pattern, and catchy sing-along chorus – it ultimately paled into insignificance as the diehard section of the crowd salvaged one final mosh before heading back to the daily grind of work the next day.
For one night in Brixton, Courtney Barnett ultimately captured the majority of mid-20s/30s hipsters within a 10 mile radius – hipsters in desperate need of some angst-filled songs harking back on the grunge and garage rock sounds of the 90s. Nonetheless, her oscillation between these tropes and alt-country/slacker folk-style music deemed slightly confusing and jolting for myself. Barnett may need a little more time to hone in on her own musical style, as well as performing in more intimate venues than Brixton Academy. In spite of these slight criticisms, my appreciation for her songwriting has grown exponentially after visiting her broad-ranged live set and hope to see her touring extensively through the U.K. for next year’s festival season.
7/10
Courtney Barnett’s latest LP ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’ is out now and can be found here.
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