Courtney Barnett found her stride by letting go of insecurity
This time last year, Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett’s music had already blown through the Internet on a cloud of smoke. On the back of debut singles ‘Avant Gardner’ and ‘History Eraser’ and the critical acclaim that they’d drawn, Barnett was touring the world with her band and had a full length LP in the works. It was then that we took her out to look at cool shirts in a Brighton thrift store, shortly after her show at The Great Escape 2014.
Since then, Barnett has released Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, a rambling, stream-of-conscious record on which she refines almost to perfection her knack for the beautiful mundane. It’s also a record with a defiant edge that touring had already brought out last summer:
“I used to be so self-conscious about what people thought,” she shares in this short video, “and then you start realising that it doesn’t matter. I don’t really care what people think that much.”
Things I Learned Along The Way is a film series that accompanies Huck’s Fiftieth Special – a compendium of personal stories about the lessons life throws us when we’re busy doing what we love.
You might like
Inside the grunge golden age with Hole’s former bassist
My ’90s Rock Photographs — Melissa Auf der Maur’s new photobook is a sprawling visual memoir of her time at the heart of the US scene, from Tinker to The Smashing Pumpkins.
How the Home Counties took over UK rap
Landmark new exhibition is celebrating 50 years of female punk
God Save the Queens — The Museum of Youth Culture is bringing together rare photography, archive material and a one-night-only supergroup featuring members of X-Ray Spex, The Slits and The Raincoats.
Cristale: “Living in London taught me to be grateful”
What Made Me – In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s Brixton-born rapper Cristale.
Hak Baker: “Being a lad is dreaming of a decent life”
Hard Feelings — The East London storyweaver joins our column on masculinity and fatherhood to chat about being raised by his mother, his family of friends, and the momentary bliss of the sesh.
Space Afrika are flying the flag for the Black avant-garde
Quiet Storm — Mancunian duo Joshua Tarelle Reid and Joshua Inyang have been soundtracking their vision of industrial decay for the best part of a decade. Their latest album sees the pair join forces with global diasporic voices to create their most personal, expansive record yet.
