Saturday, August 25, 2018

Aug 25 - Courtney Barnett

So this is the first Australia post. Things have been pretty hectic since I got here. Although not so fun. I showed up about 10 days ago now. Got in and went straight to work. And then again the next day. And then it was the weekend. And I spent my entire Saturday first house hunting, then applying for apartments. Because you have to go through this insane application process to get a place here. It's dumb. It's like 10 pages of questions and you have to give all kinds of supporting documentation. I've never seen anything like it. Then Sunday was for car shopping. That was a new one. Never done that before. And then Sunday night I did my first fun thing, which was go to the movies and see Blackkklansman. Great film. Highly recommended. Also super sad. But super well done.

Then I was back at work. And every day it's like 10 hours. Which is fine, I don't mind. I have nothing else to do and don't know anyone, so no big deal. I did have my first non-work social interactions this week, though, which was pretty nice. I should say that I don't know anyone in Sydney. I have a couple of friends of friends, and actually there is one girl I worked with in a restaurant for 6 months over a decade ago, but that's it. So I'm trying to meet people, although I'm more focused on getting an apartment first. Since I did get a car! Woohoo! Well, work got me a car. Even more woohoo! And it's a nice one. An Audi A4. Can't wait for that to show up. It is wonderful to drive. But I have to wait a couple of weeks still.

Anyway I did finally do something fun on Thursday, which was also my non-work social evening. I went to see Courtney Barnett! Pretty fitting for my first concert in Australia, as she's pretty massive when it comes to Indie music. And she's from Australia. And to make it even better, she played at the Sydney Opera House. Where better to go to my first concert since moving? I am actually not as huge of a fan of hers as most of the critics are, but her new album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, came out a few months ago, and it's actually quite good. Especially the opening track, Hopefulessness. Which is also what she opened the show with.





I love that slow build of the song. And it's a great bass line. And then finally really gets going at about 3:30. So this song, I love. But this is not how I think of Courtney Barnett. She is a witty singer-songwriter in my mind. But then this concert was a full on rock concert. She built up a lot of the songs and then just let them explode. Which was fantastic, but also kind of weird, considering we were in an opera theater. But hey, great show. And she's so deadpan but then the music goes crazy and it's fantastic.

So like I said, I enjoyed Courtney Barnett, but not as much as all the critics. Her first album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, got a ton of attention and acclaim and I thought it was just ok. But it is clever. She's clever. And then she put out an album with Kurt Vile, who I feel similarly about, but it was a pretty damn good album. And then she started putting out singles from this new album, and I kind of liked them all. The first one that really caught me was Sunday Roast, though. It's funny, cause it's also super chill, but if you listen to the whole album (which you should) it is not so chill. There are lots of hard songs on there. Which now that I saw her live she has impressed on me, but listening to the album it did not overcome my idea of her being a chill singer-songwriter. But anyway, great show. And yay Australia! Although hopefully more yay soon when I actually have a house and can start to settle down. Hopefully that comes soon. And now, Sunday Roast.


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