Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

After two very well received EPs (or the compilation A Sea of Split Peas, assembling the two records), Australian Courtney Barnett came back on the scene with a complete first album with an ironic title, in keeping with the songs of the singer-guitarist. Over the 11 tracks on the album, Barnett takes a wry, detached look at life at its most banal, with a certain nonchalance and an Australian accent that gives it an undeniable charm. There’s a little Patti Smith, Velvet Underground and Sheryl Crow in her work. While some of the folky tracks are perhaps a bit pokey, titles like the raging “Pedestrian at Best”, “An Illustration of Loneliness” and “Aqua Profunda propel” this album upwards.