Album Review: Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett is interesting. She's a bit old to be getting a debut album at 27, but this album really feels like a debut album. What I mean by that is that she's a bit all over the place on this album with her sound. One minute it's early Sheryl Crow, the next minute it's late 80's punk, the next minute it's The Doors. It's hard to get a sense of who she is or wants exactly to be on this album except for two things.

Lyrically she's quite interesting. Very youthful, but interesting. For example from "Depreston"

You said we should look out further
I guess it wouldn't hurt us
We don't have to be around all these coffee shops

Now we've got that percolator
Never made a latte greater.
I'm saving 23 dollars a week

We drive to a house in Preston
We see police arresting
A man with his hand in a bag.

Hows that for first impressions
This place seems depressing
It's a Californian bungalow in a cul-de-sac

Its got a lovely garden
A garage for two cars to park in
Or a lot of room for storage if you've just got one

And its going pretty cheap you say
Well it's a deceased estate
Aren't the pressed metal ceilings great?

A lot of the album has this feel to it.

But the most important thing about Courtney Barnett is her guitar playing. As a singer she lacks a lot, hopefully she'll improve over time with that, but her real voice right now is her guitar. It is the heart of every song on the album and drives the album.  And it makes her quite interesting.

The band is a three piece with her on guitar, then a drummer and bassist.  They pack a lot of punch for a three piece and it's driven by her guitar work.  It's funny but good guitar playing can go a long way to drive an album.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.