Courtney Barnett
Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit
Mom & Pop
Street: 03.24
Courtney Barnett = The Violent Femmes + The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Within seconds, this album comes across as a classic—one you know you’ll be able to put on and enjoy from start to finish for years to come. Taking a more strident tone in this collection than her debut EP, “Avant Gardener,” Barnett writes pop-punk songs with folk undertones that are as charmingly witty as they are shamelessly honest. These tracks are to-the-point and come to almost abrupt endings, though the overall flow of the album is unified and ultra satisfying. Much of Barnett’s music is drum and bass heavy, but maintains an endearing lightheartedness with its quirky, sing-song quality. A great success of Sometimes I Sit is that is doesn’t take itself too seriously, as Barnett sings in “Pedestrian At Best,” “Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you/Tell me I’m exceptional, I promise to exploit you.” You grow more and more fond of Barnett as you listen, both musically and as a person—so much so that by the end of Sometimes I Sit, you feel you have acquired a new best friend. –Kia McGinnis