Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett – the Grammy-nominated Australian who deserves more North American recognition. Sean and Rene discover they both love "Elevator Operator," debate her Kurt Vile collaboration, and unpack her critically acclaimed debut. Plus Rene deep-dives into the vulnerable "Anonymous Club" documentary and its haunting ambient soundtrack. UPDATE: New album release (Creature of Habit): Mar 27th. We are excited!

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Apple Music Song Playlist

Transcript

Sean: Welcome to Earshifter. He's Rene Rouleau.

Rene: And he's Sean Capstick. And Sean, why are we doing this podcast? 

Sean: We are doing it because we want to play bands that we like. After our first episode decided that we actually really like talking to each other in these podcasts, so we'll continue to do this and hopefully people will learn more about the bands that we like, if they like them already.

And if they don't, maybe they'll find a new band. 

Rene: Yeah, which is basically our relationship from the beginning since we were like 16. This is basically what we've done is we've just put this on a podcast, 

Sean: which has been pretty good for our first episode. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. 

Sean: So who are we gonna hear as the first episode of our second season?

Rene: So we are going to be talking about an Australian singer named Courtney Barnett. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: And Courtney Barnett. Sean, as you know, we're both fans of Courtney Barnett. 

Sean: Yes. 

Rene: And in fact we actually saw her live 

Sean: and it was a good show. 

Rene: It was a solid good show. Uh, for those of you, if you're listening in Toronto, it was at Danforth Music Hall.

Great. Uh, it was venue 2016, 

Sean: so a long time ago. Now 

Rene: it feels like a long, it really is. It feels like a long time ago. But I was inspired by Courtney Barnett with her first, her double EP and then her follow up, her first, her first album, basically as a solo artist. Mm-hmm. Um, but we're gonna talk a little bit about, you know, who is Courtney Barnett?

So, Courtney Barnett was born in Sydney on November 3rd, 1987. She grew up in, in kind of a Sydney suburb, for lack of a better term Northern Beaches area. Her mom was a ballerina and [00:02:00] when she was 16, her family actually moved from that suburb of Sydney to Hobart. Hobart, do you know where Hobart is? I think it's remote.

It's pretty remote. It's actually on Tasmania, which is right. The other island, basically. And I kinda looked up like, what is the population of Tasmania versus Australia, the greater Australia, Tasmania has 500,000 people, so she went from the greater island, 29 million, Tasmania, 500,000, and then Hobart is 250,000.

That's quite a seismic shift for her at 16. However. She attended 

Sean: and she's gotta worry about all those Tasmanian devils. All of a sudden, 

Rene: of course, the Tasmanian Devils, yes, she attended the Tasmanian School of Art and she, you know, grew up, like many people, grew up listening to American bands, but then she discovered.

Australian singer songwriters Darren Hanlon and Dan [00:03:00] Kelly. So they are kind of a large part of the reason that, that she became interested in music and got inspired by those two artists. So what I did, John, was I went on Spotify and listened to those artists 'cause I was curious. So I listened to Darren Hanlon, who has 7,000 monthly listeners.

Could be your near shifter band. Mm-hmm. And, um, not bad. Kind of fun. Uh, folky fun. So lyrically, I actually thought of you 'cause I think you actually might like, the way he sings. He's one of those guys that the way he sings makes you pay attention to the lyrics. I like that. His cadence. I know you like that.

And lyrically he was insightful. Kind of interesting. Like really probably deserves more than 7,000 monthly listeners, if I'm being honest. And then I went to the other one who is Dan Kelly. Dan Kelly has 4,000 monthly listeners, and Dan Kelly is a dubs which is a sub-genre of [00:04:00] reggae. Mm-hmm. And do you remember the association I belonged to in high school?

Sean: The association? 

Rene: Mm-hmm. There was a, I formed a group. There's four of us, 

Sean: no, I can't remember. You had an anti dub league. 

Rene: I, anti reggae league we're called oral. And uh, there were four members. We were all new waivers and, uh, did not like reggae, but liked sky reggae. Just to clarify that, we liked Sky Reggae, we liked the English beat and selector, uh, specials, but did not like.

Regular reggae, for lack of a better term. 

Sean: And do you still have these strong feelings about Dove? I didn't know this. 

Rene: I'm not crazy. I'm like, it doesn't bother me. Like if somebody's playing it, I don't go, oh my God, turn that off. But it just bores me. It just doesn't, it just rolls off me and doesn't affect me at all.

Sean: So the sixth side of San Anisa, you have no affinity for one more dub. 

Rene: No. In fact, I did not like that side and I'm a huge Clash [00:05:00] fan, as you know. But sand Anisa. Sand Anisa was a bumpy three record set, don't you think? 

Sean: I like them all. All the sides? Yeah. I like the last throwaway side. 

Rene: Wow. Okay. 

Sean: Yeah.

Rene: Okay. All right. But me, not so much. I mean, in fact, off that album, I think I liked seven songs, maybe outta three records. 

Sean: Okay. But going back to Australian dub, 

Rene: going back to Australian dub. So, uh, for me, I'm kind of biased. Dan Kelly wasn't really my jam but Darren Hanlin was, was pretty interesting and pretty good.

So anyway, she recorded a lot of her early versions of that, of her solo songs. She recorded them with a band called Courtney Burnett and the Ettes, and then later that band name was shortened to just the ettes. So this is where she's kind of. Starting to create some of our own songs just under that band name.

Between 2011 and 2013, Barnett was a member of an Australian psych country band called Immigrant Union. [00:06:00] And that musical project was founded by Brent De Bauer of the Dandy Warhols.

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: So there's some interesting connections there. Dauer played drums on Barnett's first ep, which was called, I've Got a friend called Emily Ferris on Barnett's own label Milk Records, which was co-founded by her and her.

Then girlfriend, Jen Clover. In 2013 Barnett played league guitar on Jen Clover's third studio album called In Blood Memory which was also released on milk records. And I listened to that. And you know what, that was actually pretty good too. It was very quiet, very melancholy, a little bit sad. Very Renee.

Okay? Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't mind that at all. So, following the release of her first ep. Burnett signed to marathon artists, and this, there's a reason I'm talking about this. So in, in August of 2013, marathon artists [00:07:00] released the double EP. A Sea of Split Peas, a combined package of Barnett's first EP that I mentioned, and her second ep, how to Carve a Carrot into a Rose.

Now, this was a strategic move on her part because Milk records didn't have the international reach or the infrastructure that Marathon artists did. So as a result. The double eep actually brought Barnett International Critical Acclaim. Mm-hmm. Uh, with Avant Gardner, the lead single that track was named Track of the Day by Q Magazine.

And best New Track by Pitchfork in 2013. So Avant Gardner. Should we give a listen to that one? 

Sean: Let's hear it. 

Rene: Let's hear it.

clip: My hands are shaky. My knees weak. I can't seem to stand on my own two feet. I'm breathing but [00:08:00] I'm wheezing. Feel like I'm phy. My throat feels like. Filled with we and kerosene. Oh no. Next thing I know, they call a Triple A. I would rather die than over the hospital till I get old. I get adrenaline straight to the high.

I feel like Kickstart reminds me of the time when I was really sick and I had too much Pseu, couldn't sleep at night down high. Looks ambient. He's probably wondering what I'm doing, getting in an ambulance. The paramedic thinks I'm clever because I play guitar. I think she's clever. She stops people dying.

Anaphylactic.

Sean: Okay, so I remember hearing that song for the first time, and it was. A breath of fresh air. It was [00:09:00] totally different. Her draw the the way she makes you wanna listen to the lyrics to see how she rhymed pseudo rogen crazy. And you know, the, yeah. The line about uh, the old lady and you know, yeah, it was, it was, it was a, a really catchy song.

It made you want to hear more 

Rene: and kind of like telling a story. Right. But also. Some nice little subtle humor inflected in it. And again, em emphysemic like, oh my God, how do you get that in a lyric? That's insane. And also, yeah, I think you make a good point. Like the draggy, almost deadpan singing makes you pay attention to what she's actually saying, which I think is smart and very much for 

Sean: you.

Yes. Yeah. Thank 

Rene: you very much. A Sean thing. Okay there's another track off that double EP. That's a standout for me. And, and quite frankly, for most the track is called History Eraser. Mm-hmm. Do you remember that one? 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: I have this one on probably three of my running playlists, and I think once you guys [00:10:00] hear it, you're gonna understand why.

So let's hear it. Okay.

Speaker 4: I got drunk and fell asleep. The sheets, luckily I left the heater on

away.

By mixing acid and lemonade.

The letters on the page to spell your name I and if CI

song 

Rene: always get rolling. Stone [00:11:00] irony. Okay, so. You can hear that song, it just starts and goes, right? Mm-hmm. And that's exactly what inspires me to run faster or run more or just keep running. 'cause that song just keeps trudging along. And a really the cadence is perfect for running. And lyrically again, kind of funny, the whole Rolling Stones reference, amazing, very trippy song.

Uh mm-hmm. Kind of an homage to the sixties, psychedelia. And, uh, the very first song that my daughter liked, 

Sean: good. That's a good trivia bit there. 

Rene: And in this, for this song, Sean, like where do you see it? Like is it in your top five? Is it in your top 10? What do you think? 

Sean: Definitely yeah, like the, I come back to hearing Avant Gardner and smile, you, you know.

Putting this on makes me smile again, but I can't remember the last time that I listened to History Eraser. So there, there you go. But yes, it was at the time, like, yeah, that little chanting [00:12:00] bit is, it was, it was a great song. It is a great song. 

Rene: It is a great, it still holds up like revisiting it because of this podcast guys, we get to revisit these albums that we loved or these artists that we love.

And it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to rediscover them. Okay, so, on January 30th, 2015, Burnett releases details on her upcoming full length album. It's recorded in 2014 with Producer Burke Reed, along with two singles. One's called Pedestrian at Best, and the other one's called to Preston. Yeah, and just fun fact, Burke Reed actually produced one of Liam Finn's solo albums. Do you remember who Liam Finn is or no? 

Sean: Is he one of the, the split ends? The, the Finn 

Rene: Brothers, 

Sean: right? Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. Which, you know, I had that split ends album, man, like. It was fun. I got you. Mm-hmm. It was the name, the hit single and, uh, I remember the album itself was etched for the cool geometric pattern, which was, unheard of back [00:13:00] then.

It was just like very, very before its time, and then crowded house. Sean, I like, like four or five songs prior to House Wise. 

Sean: They were okay. They were okay. They were, they were. Okay. Yeah. There's, there's other pop bands of Australia at the time. Like In Excess. That first in excess album was really good.

Now I didn't like What In Excess became later, but like became, it became 

Rene: popular, Sean. 

Sean: Yeah, that was, that was the old Sean. But even the, the songs became less interesting. And, uh, I mean, uh. And then who was a singer? Alex Hutchins, he stole Bob Aldos girlfriend Michael Hus. Michael Michael Hutchins.

And, uh, yeah, he stole, uh, Bob Aldo's wife and, you know, and then did terrible things to himself. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, let's go back to Split Ends Was much nicer. Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. And we know how you feel about the BoomTown Rats from a previous episode. Yeah. So Fair enough. Fair enough. But anyway, so, both these songs.

I love both these songs. But pedestrian is just an absolute banger for me. I love Preston too, which we'll talk about a little later. I like Preston. Yep, I know, I know. [00:14:00] And we will talk about that a bit in a little bit, but I want to hear pedestrian first. 

Sean: Okay.

I,

I'm down, I'm on the 

Speaker 4: de.

What should be a small success, but iress, at least I've tried my very best. I guess this, that the other why even bother? It won't be with on. I'll be in head

to.[00:15:00] 

Rene: Okay, so this song. Again, I think it's on one of my running playlists. 'cause it just starts and goes and it's just awesome to run to. It's also her most played song on that album. Okay. Which is probably not, not a surprise. Right. It's, it's got a lot of life to it. It's got catchy, it's hooky all and it's a bit of 

Sean: aggressive and a bit of angry at the same time.

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. So most played. On our debut album, which is called, 

Sean: sometimes I Sit and Think, sometimes I just Sit. That's the album 

Rene: that is the album. Title I think it's one of the best album titles 

Sean: ever 

Rene: because it's just so funny and so great and so captures the voice of that entire album. So it was released worldwide in 2015 and was accompanied of [00:16:00] course by tours in the uk, Europe, and America and Australia, Asia.

Widespread acclaim, right? Like. Pitchfork gave it an 8.6 outta 10. Meta Critic is an amalgamation of all these critics. I think in this case it's around 35. So Meta critic score was 88 out of a hundred. Rolling Stone gave it four and a half Stars. NME gave it eight out of 10. Pitchfork actually said it was number nine in the 50 best albums of 2015.

Pitchfork also said 200 best albums of. The 2010s, it was number 67 enemies albums of the year. For 2015, it was number 22. And it just keeps going, right? Like. She knocked it out of the park on this one 

Sean: completely. Yep. 

Rene: So at the 2015 Aria Music Awards, which is the Australian Recording Industry Association, she won four awards.

From the eight nominations She was nominated for the best new artist at the [00:17:00] 58th Annual Grammy Awards and International female solo artist at the 2015 Bri Awards. So she's basically on fire. And doing really well. The next song they kind of push off that album is the song Nobody really cares if you don't go to the Party.

And what they did was they did kind of a gorilla campaign where they put up a bunch of posters bearing the song's title and they put 'em up in London, New York, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney. And the campaign actually gar garnered a lot of interest and online. Gained a lot of social media momentum and it culminated in a surprise busking gig in Camden London.

And let's give a listen to that song 

Sean: Now as a marketer. Do you appreciate that? Do you think that was a good thing that they did? 

Rene: I think it was. It sounds like it was very successful, so pretty smart. Let's give a listen, please. 

Speaker 4: I wear my heart on my sleeve. [00:18:00] It's hot in the It gotta a, takes a deal outta Yes.

I like you in your, but I've heard them. I.

Sean: Okay. Yeah, so I totally remember that song. Now. I didn't remember that song title, but yes, the definitely may be the, the, again, a little angry, a little edgy but fun and also copy and, uh, but you know, with, with an edge 

Rene: and also insightful, right? Because we all know that feeling of like, I don't want to go out, I don't wanna stay in.[00:19:00] 

And you're kind of torn, right? Mm-hmm. And at the end of the day, nobody fucking cares. 

Sean: Yeah. 

So you might as well get over it. 

Rene: You might as well get over it and go out or not go out, but, but just make a decision basically. So I, I love that song for that. So of the 11 songs on the original release of this album, I love eight of them.

Which is pretty good. Very good. Pretty good. Preston is the second most played at 31 million plays which lyrically is about a sad, gentrifying suburb called Preston, which is a real thing near Sydney, Australia. She's literally describing that tension between, affording something in the city and sacrificing.

For the suburbs, right? Mm-hmm. Which is basically the beginning of the end, essentially.

Sean: Or you can be happy in the suburbs. 

Rene: You, I mean, we grew up in the suburbs. 

Sean: Yeah. You know, and you know, like. Yeah, you could be, I think Preston [00:20:00] could, she could raise a lovely family there and they could have their own musical in instruments and do all those things.

Wouldn't have to worry about the devils running around Preston. So 

Rene: these are true things, but do you remember that same feeling in your twenties that you know, moving are you gonna stay cool and be in the city or are you gonna have to move to the suburbs? 'cause you can't afford the city? 

Sean: Yes. 

Rene: Yeah, I think we all have that feeling.

And so she, again, she captures those kind of insight based, uh, feelings 

Sean: in a story in a continuous, there's a chorus, it's a conventional song, but she still goes right through the, being in a real estate agent's car, going to a neighborhood you don't want going one. And then, wondering about the people that.

Lived in the house before you went into it. Yes. I remember that very clearly. When we, you know, when we were looking for houses. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder what this place was. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. So amazing song, no surprise that it's the second most played. [00:21:00] But I mean, like I said, I love eight of these songs and one of my faves.

It turns out, I've just learned is one of your faves, which is elevator operator. 

Sean: That was the one when, again, when you know like, why do we like doing this? It's 'cause we get to listen to songs we hadn't heard from a long time and, and, you know, really have to pay attention. I remembered how much I liked this song when it first came out.

Rene: Same I, I was actually surprised, Sean, that it wasn't the most played song, that it's like it's in the middle. It's not, it's not the most played song. It's not the second most played song. It's just. It's just one of the songs that are great. 

Sean: And it is a great song. 

Rene: Ah, but it's so funny though. You and I both are like, this is the one for me.

Like that's, that's amazing. And somehow not surprising. Alright, let's listen to it. Okay.

He building to the Nicholas building, he chips on a pot hole, not waits for an elevator. 1, 2, 9 lady walk. Weights [00:22:00] by his side. Her heels are high and her bag is snake 

Speaker 4: skin. Hipple so tight. You can see her skeleton Vic's perfume on her breath. A tor. She necklace between her breath. She looks in, up and down with the bot.

Ahead of you. I Anything

he said, I think you are projecting the way that you are feeling. I'm 

Sean: not. So again, I think that's why she's such a great artist and why I like her is the little song craft, that little [00:23:00] description, you know, within five or six lines, you get a. In your mind's eye, I can see an older woman who is going to be contemptuous about a young Ozzy stoner who throws his tie away earlier in the song and decides that he's not gonna go to work that day.

But then. She cares about it. She's like, all of a sudden, like, now she's showing empathy about him not trying to, uh, don't throw, jump off the roof. So yeah, it's a great, and the fact that, you know, his confession in the end is he just wants to be an elevator operator. Like, that's his goal in life, which is a great pixie song, by the way.

But yeah, it's a, yeah, it's a great little vignette. It's a great little song. 

Rene: And it's so funny that you say that because. I actually have a, a, a picture of that woman, what she looks like, like right down to she has a headscarf on and sunglasses, and her face is stretched from all the plastics like I can [00:24:00] see her which is pretty powerful thing for mm-hmm.

Uh, musical artists to do. Okay, so she's on a roll, right? She's, she's doing great. And on May 21st, 2016, she was actually the musical guest on the season finale. Saturday Night Live. Pretty good way to finish that up. Alright, one last thing, Sean, for perspective, we just wanna talk about, you know, who dominated the charts in 20 14, 20 15?

So Britain and to some extent us. We had Adele, we had Kelly Clarkson, we had Justin Bieber One Direction. These are all kind of released around 20, 20 14, 20 15, and in the charts. So perspective wise, if you put her against those guys, she's a very different beast. 

Sean: She's a very, very different 

Rene: Yeah, which is pretty awesome.

Okay, so Sean, in 2017, Barnett collabs with somebody. 

Kurt Vile, 

Sean: who from the violators. 

Rene: [00:25:00] Okay. Now I knew, I remembered that you were a fan of Kurt Vile. I am not a big fan of Kurt Vile. I don't dislike him, but I'm not into him. And so I actually asked you about a week ago saying, Hey, can you talk about this album a little bit?

'cause you actually like this guy. 

Sean: So yeah, the Kurt Vile American, not Australian American slacker. They have a. Somewhat of a physical resemblance, right? Kurt, Kurt is, if anything, a little bit more skinny and effeminate with a longer conventional hair. But you know, they both have kind of like a slacker, vibe and they got together and became more slack.

Kurt Vile I thought was interesting because he left the war on drugs, which made them make. The War on Drugs. Oh, wait a minute. He was in War on 

Rene: drugs. 

Sean: He was in war. He left the War on drugs. 

Rene: Oh, I love the War on drugs. That one album in 

Sean: particular, the one album was, was when he, he left and then the guy who eventually became really boring in the war on drugs, who was a [00:26:00] singer and then, you know, went on and, and you know, the War on Drugs became popular.

But that first War on Drugs album, the story I remember in my mind is Kurt was gonna be the singer. They had all of these tracks laid down. And he said, well, you know what, I'm not that into it anymore. Like these guys were best friends from, you know, when they were in high school. And so they had all the studio time, so they just recorded.

So the first War on Drugs album, and again, dear listeners, you're gonna go against this. We can always be hypocrites. There weren't as many lyrics on that. It was more mellow and atmospheric and I thought it was pretty cool. The later I war on drugs became a little. Less endearing to me. I don't, I would, if you want to do them as an air shifter band.

Okay. The first album's great, but I, I would not say that they're really, 

Rene: what's the first album called? Do you remember? 

Sean: I don't know. The War on Drugs. It was that blue cover. Like, yeah, I listened to that a lot. Probably, you know, in the early late aughts early. Tens. Yeah, 

Rene: yeah, yeah. 

Sean: It was a [00:27:00] great album, and Kurt Bale was supposed to be on that album and left.

Wow. 

Rene: I didn't know that. Okay. Look guys, I'm listening. I'm and learning too. 

Sean: So they, they get together, they sing each other's songs. They cover like each other's blesser hits. They do some write some songs together and make new songs. It, it was okay, you know, I listened to it again to getting ready and I was like, okay.

You know, like it's, it lost its place in the rotation. It was fun. But what I think was interesting, and this again. To Courtney's star, power and influence at the time. Right? So it was recorded in Australia and it was a bit of a who's who in terms of Australian bands. So there's a band, Australian band the what, what are they?

The dirty three. Jim White and Mick Turner. And then the guy who's now in Nick CA's band was in the Dirty three as well, Warren Ellis. So you know, that's a great, deep Australian band. And then one of the original Bad seeds was on [00:28:00] there, Mick Harvey. 

Rene: Oh, wow. 

Sean: So yeah, so this was a pretty solid album in terms of people that were on the album and yeah, it's, it's fun.

And then they collabed, they didn't collab again, but they, they were appeared on the same album. The I'll Be Your Mirror. Album that came out, that was a tribute to the Velvet Underground that came out. Never heard of them. That great. Well, you watch the movie. I know You like, you like bands. 'cause they, they, uh, uh, do documentaries.

Documentaries. There was a great, 

Rene: thank you very much. No, I love Velvet Underground. We, we both know that. 

Sean: Yeah. That Velvet Underground that came out in like, uh. 2000 and what, when was it? 2001 or something. Right. That, that was a great little documentary about development. And, and they have all these contemporary artists suing covers and Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett do covers.

Courtney Barnett does the all be your mirror, so she becomes Nico. Very cool. Um, and then Kurt does Run, run, run, which is off their first, uh, album, like on, on that Banana album. So 

Rene: yeah. Nice, [00:29:00] nice. Okay. Thanks for covering that part. I appreciate that. So now we're getting into her sophomore.

Solo album, her second solo album. This was launched in Sydney in 2018. And m like where it was launched was a hotel called Lansdown Hotel. But this is the part that I loved. Uh, and it was MCed by the X Go-Betweens. Mm-hmm. Person. I remember the Go-Betweens Morrison. Linda Morrison, right? Yeah. I remember the go between two.

I don't think they'd quite be a ear shifter band 'cause I didn't love them that much, but I did like them and I didn't enjoy You get another 

Sean: good Australian band. 

Rene: Yeah, exactly, exactly. The album was eventually. Released entitled tell me how you really feel The album dealt in part with barnett's thoughts about isolation in the social media age, which is pretty cool.

There was one kind of single or hit called City Looks Pretty, which was featured on the soundtrack of the video game, fifa [00:30:00] 19. And I listened to that song and that song was, it was pretty good. Like, it was, it was pretty solid. Kind of hooky. But the chorus didn't grab me as much as some of her other songs.

I still like it though, still thought it was pretty good. And then next Sean, she goes on a journey. And this again is the fun of this podcast is you're forced to research. So you learn all this great stuff. So in December, 2020. Enemy reported that a documentary is gonna be made titled Anonymous Club.

And that would explore the inner life of the notoriously shy. Barnett amidst her significant rise to fame. Mm-hmm. So we talked about this crazy wave she was on, and she decides I'm gonna kind of capture the post of that and the struggles of a musician after something like that. And, um. So obviously I watched this entire movie [00:31:00] and I was pretty impressed.

Like, by the way, anonymous Club is named after a song from the double EP. 

Speaker 4: Hmm. Okay. 

Rene: Theatrically released in 2022 and, um, I wanna share some of the quotes to give you a sense of her at that time and where she was. So she's, she's around 30, right? So think about that. Like she's, mm-hmm. She's hit this fame before 30 and, um, and decides to make this kind of very honest and open and, and quite vulnerable account of her life after that, groundswell, if you will. So some of her kind of fast, rough quotes, she says I let myself down with interviews. I don't feel like I'm a strong communicator, so she's just like talking about what she went through. Amidst all this craziness she said at the age of 10 she felt she was an emo kid before she even knew what emo was.

And that kind of fits. Mm-hmm. For sure. Feeling comfortable on stage is rare for her. She has sad days. She [00:32:00] talks about, I have sad days in Dallas. She cried on stage once and she said it felt good to cry in front of 2000 people. She struggles to write. What musician I think doesn't, but she had a funny line where she goes, you know, I'm sitting there and my head is empty and my heart is empty.

The page is empty. And just that struggle to get past that. Hmm. Maybe ai. Nope. Don't say that. Nope, that's not right. Uh uh, she said you know, a song is done when you just stop questioning it or when it. Just flows or when it's really fun to play over and over again. And that's where she kind of knows that song is done.

I really like when I was watching the movie, I really admired her bravery, talking about her struggles and her self-awareness. That, she's a pretty lucky person, but she still has these internal struggles, and she even acknowledges, look, I know I'm whinging. I believe that's an Australian expression.

I'm whinging a [00:33:00] lot but these are genuine things that I feel and I'm not gonna discount them. So through the movie, she, she talks about trying to find purpose the whole movie, like because of her thoughtfulness, it has a very existential tone to it. Which isn't easy to do in a movie, but but the film was really hitting on things that most films don't really talk about. Overall, she hopes to inspire conversation with some purpose. She says, my eternal goal is to empower people who need empowering to feel something to, for, to forget something to. Remember something or feel happiness or an emotion that allows them to transcend life and helps them in their journey.

It was pretty, pretty aspirational, right? Yes. 

Speaker 4: Yeah. 

Rene: And this bit was kind of, uh, insightful and a bit funny. I don't know if she meant it to be funny, but she said she talked about her fear of not being heard on stage, like literally not being heard on stage. So she [00:34:00] would shout or play her guitar louder.

But. After or during her solo tour. So this movie captures her doing a solo and very intimate tour where she's just her and her guitar. After that she kind of realized, you know, maybe staying quiet is kind of good. And so where I'm getting at with this is the following album that she's developing in this movie is just filled with a lot quieter songs.

The album is called things Take Time. Take time was released in 2021. Uh, did it grab me? Not as much as some of her other work. But you're gonna love this. Speaking of, so that movie, of course, has a soundtrack, Sean, and it's mostly ambience, ambient and track music. And guess who fucking loved that ambient music.

Sean: Chloe? 

Rene: Yeah. No, I thought, honestly, I actually listened to that album. The soundtrack. The soundtrack? Yes. The [00:35:00] soundtrack for Anonymous Club. It was Moody, it was airy, it was beautiful. It was sad. It was lonely. I actually, honestly, I don't know why, but I felt like I was in the middle of like a Nevada desert for some reason, and there was no one around.

It was just me. I'm not stuck. I'm there willingly. I can leave, but I choose to stay. And that's what the soundtrack made me feel, which I thought was pretty cool. And I actually listened to it while I was researching for this episode. So I actually wanna say it is totally my jam. I actually wanna say well done Courtney.

And, uh, thanks for that because I really, I really, truly enjoyed that. 

Sean: Nice. 

Rene: Yeah. And I'll probably listen to it on my own more. Okay. So this is a little sad, but in July, 2023, Barnett confirmed milk records, her record company, 

Sean: which is pretty cool that she started that very cool way back in the day and then became, you know, you know, a do it yourself success story 

Rene: Yeah.

With other bands under that label. [00:36:00] Yeah. Right. Um, but it it unfortunately was just established at the end of 2023 after 12 years. Pretty good run. The final album released on that. Label is the instrumental end of the day, which is the soundtrack for Anonymous Club. So I think she ended on a high note in my opinion.

And then on July 3rd, 2022, fun fact Burnett supported the Rolling Stones at their concert at Hyde Park in London. So I think that's a pretty big moment. So we come to the question, which is why is Courtney Barnett a near shifter band? 'cause clearly she is or wouldn't be doing this episode.

Okay? 

Sean: So Renee, you are so true to form, right? So re I asked Renee, have you heard the new single off the album? Do? And he goes, no, I don't listen to singles. I wait till the album comes out true and then I will decide which ones I like or not. I don't wanna be pushed a single. Courtney's got a new single out right now.

It's really good. It's returned to her kind of edgy [00:37:00] guitar, fuzzy roots. Okay. It's called Stay In My Lane, and it's a nice little song. 

Rene: Awesome. I love that. I love 

Sean: that. So she's coming back. Yeah. She's gonna have a record in 26, and who knows what it'll be. 

Rene: But for the record, Courtney, if you're listening, you probably felt like you, you never left, right?

Yes. You probably felt like I love the albums I made. Like you or otherwise, you wouldn't put 'em out. I, and we've talked about this, I think with joy, the joy formidable. Mm-hmm. Where it's like. They're putting out the album not because of any other pressure, but they believe this is a great album and like, I think that's the most important thing really.

Sean: Yep. 

And I'm looking forward to it. So why is she a air shift, Renee? 

Rene: Well, I think bottom line, I think she deserves more from the rest of the world. So, Courtney Burnett has 750,000 monthly Spotify listeners. So not bad, right? Which is 

Sean: pretty good. 

Rene: Pretty good. But I think like our four Australian listeners, if we have four, are like, we're 

Sean: big in Australasia, Renee.

Pardon? Like [00:38:00] this, this second uh, uh, season is really gonna take us over the top in Australasia. We're You just have to pronounce it better. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah. We'll start there and actually know where Tasmania is, maybe. I think Australians would all say, duh, everyone knows who she is, mate. Like. We know, but I would argue that, again, I think 

Sean: they would say Oy first.

Rene: I don't know if, would they say oi, oi. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. Wow. They are just hating us now. Now they're all gonna turn, like, 

Sean: literally, like, we gotta set, we've gotta set our targets on another continent. Okay. 

Rene: Not insult them with a bad accent. But again, they don't know her over here in Canada or the US or probably other countries even.

So she got the Grammy nom. Like most people don't know who she is. Like, quite frankly over here. 

And in lesser ways, Sean, she might be the tragically hip of Australia. I, I think she's actually more popular than tragically Hip globally, but, [00:39:00] same kind of idea, right? And mm-hmm. And folks if you don't know who the Tragically Hip are you're not Canadian, uh, you can't have them.

They're ours. So you can listen to me if you want. We don't care. They're our bands. Okay. So do you agree? 

Sean: I think she is definitely an air shifter band. 

Rene: Lovely. Lovely. Yes. And and grateful for her music. A hundred percent. 

Sean: A hundred percent. 

Rene: Okay, Sean, and who are we gonna hear next time? 

Sean: So I am gonna talk about a band that I just saw in concert.

I had heard about them before. I went and saw them in concert and I was blown away. I think more people should see them. Because they were so great in concert. 

Rene: Okay. That's a pretty good teaser. I don't think anyone can guess it though. Probably not. 

Sean: They're named after a TV show, heroine. 

Rene: Okay. Okay.

That's a better clue. For sure. Alright, thanks folks. [00:40:00] Until next time, 

Sean: see you on Air Shifter. 

Rene: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Air Shifter. Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Air shifter on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify and visit air shifter.com for more information.

Special thanks. Go to our logo designer Stuart Thorsby, and our intro outro music by Joe Novak. You can find him as Bye-bye. Badman, one word on SoundCloud and a big shout out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer slash editor. Until next time.