Courtney Barnett is a Melbourne-based guitar player & singer & songwriter. In 2012 she started her own label, Milk! Records, and released her first EP I’ve Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris to glowing reviews around Australia. That quickly snowballed into International critical acclaim in 2013 with her second EP How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose. Lead single Avant Gardener tells the story of an anaphylactic panic-attack in the midst of an Australian heatwave, with lyrics like “The paramedic thinks I’m clever cos I play guitar, I think she’s clever cos she stops people dying.” Pitchfork was so enamoured with Avant Gardener that they named it a prestigious ‘Best New Track’. Courtney has combined these two releases into one and called it The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas to be released internationally via House Anxiety/Marathon Artists. This collection collates her story so far and is a unique introduction to an incomparable and exciting new talent. Along with Avant Gardener, selected highlights from the album include the gorgeous and woozy piano-strewn opener Out of the Woodwork, which showcases a darker side of her writing. Anonymous Club portrays Courtney at her most romantic and melancholic, while History Eraser is an infectious Dylan-esque cavalcade that was recently nominated (alongside Tame Impala) for the APRA Song Of The Year in Australia. And let’s not forget Lance Jr. which was the first song to catch people’s ears.
Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener
Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener Lyrics:
I sleep in late
Another day
Oh what a wonder
Oh what a waste.
It’s a monday
It’s so mundane
What exciting things
Will happen today?
The yard is full of hard rubbish it’s a mess and
I guess the neighbours must think we run a meth lab
We should ammend that
I pull the sheets back
It’s 40 degrees
And i feel like i’m dying.
Life’s getting hard in here
So i do some gardening
Anything to take my mind away from where it’s sposed to be.
The nice lady next door talks of green beds
And all the nice things that she wants to plant in them
I wanna grow tomatoes on the front steps.
Sunflowers, bean sprouts, sweet corn and radishes.
I feel pro-active
I pull out weeds
All of a sudden
I’m having trouble breathing in.
My hands are shaky
My knees are weak
I can’t seem to stand
On my own two feet
I’m breathing but i’m wheezing
Feel like i’m emphysem-in’
My throat feels like a funnel
Filled with weet bix and kerosene and
Oh no, next thing i know
They call up triple o
I’d rather die than owe the hospital
Till I get old
I get adrenalin
Straight to the heart
I feel like Uma Thurman
Post-overdosing kick start
Reminds me of the time
When i was really sick and i
Had too much psuedoefedryn and i
Couldn’t sleep at night
Halfway down high street, andy looks ambivalent
He’s probably wondering what i’m doing getting in an ambulance
The paramedic thinks i’m clever cos i play guitar
I think she’s clever cos she stops people dying
Anaphylactic and super hypocondriactic
Should’ve stayed in bed today
I much prefer the mundane.
I take a hit from
An asthma puffer
I do it wrong
I was never good at smoking bongs.
I’m not that good at breathing in.
