I recently heard Courtney Barnett this past weekend and was immediately really digging her sound. I remembered hearing something about this album a few months ago before listening to her, and that was really before I listened to more of Kurt Vile’s old band (though he hasn’t been a member in quite a few years), The War on Drugs, than just a few songs. That being said, I’ve since listened to a couple of The War on Drugs’ albums (really incredible if you haven’t checked them out yet), and now I’ve heard Courtney Barnett, and at this point I’m extremely stoked to check this album out. With that said, I’m going to jump on in.
“Over Everything” has a very chill feel to it right away, almost a Californian road trip of sorts. The guitar work already is very subtly intricate. Both Barnett and Vile have such a relaxed way of singing in this one. It’s almost like they’re having a conversation with each other in this one. That bass really rolls along nicely in this tune and plays off the percussion quite nicely. The guitar work is wonderfully intricate, and quite lovely to hear. There’s some sort of distorted synth or guitar that really adds an interesting layer. The way this song builds on itself is quite impressive as well. This is an absolutely incredible intro song to this album, there’s so much more that the song keeps giving. The guitar was really awesome.
“Let It Go” is again pretty chill, but wow, the guitar work has left me really impressed. There’s so many layers to it that it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening. The interplay between the instruments is really awesome. I’m continually further stunned by the intricacy in the playing.
“Fear Is Like a Forest” has a really awesome tone to the song. Sort of new-age cowboy bluesy that’s being played by some sort of neo-psychedelic rock group. The craftsmanship in the song is really sweet. The guitars are incredible. Courtney and Kurt are an amazing musical duo from what I can tell thus far.
“Outta the Woodwork” has a really interesting bassiness to it, and is almost a little darker in feel compared to the rest of the album thus far. I can help but tap along to this one. This is honestly an incredible work of music, both the song and especially the album. Wow, the guitar work is especially blowing me away. The guitars are so laid back, but keep getting more and more intricate.
“Continental Breakfast” is a bit brighter and lighter feeling than the last couple of songs, and that is in part due to the acoustic sounding guitar part, in my opinion, as well as the somewhat simpler percussion part. Honestly, the bass is incredibly soothing to me as well. This album is flying by so quickly, I can’t believe the album is already past the midway point at the time of writing this.
“On Script” has a super laid back feel again, and really reminds me a bit of Lost in the Dream (2014) by The War on Drugs, from what I can remember at least. I can’t stress how awesome this album has been thus far. The genre feels super hard to try to describe, but I think you could definitely consider it somewhat of a neo-psychedelia album.
“Blue Cheese” has a great laid back feeling again, and the acoustic guitar almost feels like it’s spreading the whole thing out a bit. Holy smokes, there’s a harmonica bit to this tune and it’s completely out of left field compared to the rest of the album, but in a very welcoming way. The harmonica part brings an awesome variance to a song that was already quite sturdy on its own. Wow, I think there might even be a bit of a banjo part in it. Awesome song.
“Peepin’ Tom” is a great acoustic song so far, not sure if it’ll turn electric at some point, but I can’t rule out the possibility the way this album has taken its music to unexpected places. That being said, the acoustic guitar is incredibly beautiful.
“Untogether” is a bittersweet ballad to the end of the album. The guitars are almost swirling around in a certain way, and the light touch of the acoustic really makes the song quite heartfelt, in my opinion. Definitely a beautiful end to an incredibly beautiful album. It sounds like Barnett and Vile are on the exact same page with what they’re singing about. Truly a great song.
Wow. This album was absolutely incredible. If you haven’t checked out any of Kurt Vile’s solo stuff or his work with The Violators or his older stuff with The War on Drugs, or you haven’t checked out any of Courtney Barnett’s stuff quite yet, anywhere would be a great start. This album is really a great listen, and I recommend you check this out if you get the chance.
-A