Melbourne songstress Courtney Barnett has dropped a new single ahead of a national tour kicking off this Thursday in Brisbane from the Triple J Next Crop selected artist.
The new tune is inspired by an incident last year when the indie lass was gardening in the midst of a heatwave and ended up unable to breathe. She was rushed to hospital and thanks to some quick thinking paramedics and an epipen of adrenalin was released a few days later.
Feeling inspired by the events Barnett began to put pen to paper on a track she’d been jamming on a couple of months earlier in the studio. It would later become the aptly named single ‘Avant Gardener’.
“This was just a studio demo with no words, now it has so many words that it doesn’t need a chorus,” Barnett says of the new single. “It’s about the time I did some gardening and ended up in hospital. It’s about the banality of life, pharmaceutical drug use, mindless procrastination and a broadening personal perspective. An altruistic tale of allergies and suburban asphyxiation.”
The singer-songwriter recounts the tale in a matter-of-fact commentary style on the funky track, “I’m breathin’ but I’m weezin’, feel like I’m emphesymin’ / And my throat feels like a funnel filled with Weet-Bix and kerosene.” Also finding time to credit those who helped save her life, “The paramedic thinks I’m clever coz I play guitar / I think she’s clever coz she stops people dying.”
Barnett is backed by her band The Courtney Barnetts which features Dan Luscombe of The Drones, among others, and his layered guitar squall complements the laid-back groove of the song. He also mixed the track.
Also featuring in the lineup for The Courtney Barnetts is Melbourne singer-songerwriter, Jen Cloher, who is currently crowdfunding her new record and astonishingly reached 30% of her target within three days. Barnett also happens to feature in Cloher’s backing band.
The Melbourne local is kicking off her tour this Thursday along the east coast, stopping off at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and also playing The Hills Are Alive festival in Victoria.
The touring doesn’t stop there, with dates in May/June supporting Something For Kate on their national tour, who recently sat down with Tone Deaf for a chat, which frontman Paul Dempsey said he dug the music of their upcoming tour-mate. “I don’t want to use the word slacker… but there’s this real kind of lazy, wittiness about her stuff,” says Dempsey of her musical style.
You can listen to the new song ‘Avant Gardener’ and check out the upcoming tour dates below:
Courtney Barnett 2013 Australian Tour
THURSDAY 21ST MARCH
Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane – Tickets through OzTix
with Grand Atlantic & Dom Miller
SATURDAY 23RD MARCH
Brighten Up Bar, Sydney – Tickets through Moshtix
with Pear Shape & Bec and Ben
SUNDAY 24th MARCH
Hills Are Alive Festival, Victoria
THURSDAY 28TH MARCH (Good Friday Eve)
Toff In Town, Melbourne – Tickets through Moshtix
with Money For Rope & Atolls
