Meet Melbourne’s next big music export, Courtney Barnett

HER songs detail the minutiae of everyday Melbourne life — and critics worldwide are tipping Courtney Barnett as the next big thing in music.

01/02/15, Sydney, N.S.W. Australia © Andrew Murray Courtney Barnett preforming at the Laneway Festival, in Rozelle

HER songs detail the minutiae of everyday Melbourne life — and critics worldwide are tipping Courtney Barnett as the next big thing in music.

Barnett, from Northcote, is the sudden darling of every music bible from Britain’s NME to Rolling Stone in the US, and notoriously hard-to-please hipster outlets like Pitchfork, Nylon and Uncut.

Triple J is all over her witty, incisive observations and super-chilled delivery.

Courtney Barnett preforming at the Laneway Festival, in Sydney. Picture: Andrew Murray

A March-due album titled Sometimes I Sit And Think … Sometimes I Just Sit, which includes stories from the Fitzroy pool and a house hunting expedition to Preston, might just catapult Barnett into the mainstream.

“I pick up on small parts of my everyday life and magnify them a bit. It’s what I do. But it’s not like it rolls out of me like some seem to imply,” Barnett says.

She laughs: “I spend a lot of time trying to say something mundane in a poetic way. There’s not really an intention to make it seem so casual. It’s not a secret plan to be super chill. I guess it’s the way it happens.

Courtney Barnett preforming at the Laneway Festival, in Sydney. Picture: Andrew Murray

While some of her lyrics are specific and local, Barnett says the themes are broad and global.

“It’s the same reason Lou Reed talking about New York resonates with someone like me in Northcote,” she says.

“If someone connects with what you’re talking about, the location is just art — the illustration —- it’s not the defining feature. It’s more about the idea and sentiment behind it.”

Courtney Barnett

Barnett will perform at the sold-out Laneway Festival, alongside FKA Twigs, Little Dragon, Caribou and Flying Lotus, at Footscray Community Arts Centre on Saturday.

“It’s the first time I’ve done a music festival,” she says. “It feels like a school camp. It’s kinda nice.”

WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING:

“One of 2015’s most anticipated indie releases” Rolling Stone

“Cleary on the verge of stardom” Nylon

“Shows off a mind that’s racing at a hundred miles an hour” NME

“Stands apart as one of the finest young singer-songwriters in the game right now” Grantland

“A live performer of grace and power” Pitchfork

“Great things to come” Stereogum

“Impressive songwriting talent” Uncut

Originally published as Meet Melbourne’s next big music export, Courtney Barnett