Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile have joined forces to release their collaborative project ‘Lotta Sea Lice’. Both artists have experienced success in their respective fields, Courtney is known for her garage-rock musical style, with Kurt perfecting lo-fi, indie-folk infused rock. After jamming together earlier this year, the transpacific pairing decided to get together in the studio and create a record of slacker rock tunes packed with witty lyrics and soft intimate vocal melodies.
‘Over Everything’,
the album opener and first single from the project, kicks proceedings off
brilliantly. Kurt's bluesy guitar licks intertwine beautifully with Courtney's
lazy rhythm playing. The vocal styles of both C & K set the tone for
the whole record whilst the song slowly builds to a crescendo that sounds like it
could have come straight out of a demo session for an old The War On
Drugs record. The relaxed charm of the project is brought to the
forefront with second track 'Let It Go'. With a lazy (rather too messily
played) drum section from Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint and a
call and response vocal from C & K, you can really hear the intimacy of the
recording process. The dueted vocals are used to profound effect, but there are little
moments here where the vocal takes really lack conviction and could have been performed better.
On both 'Fear Is Like A Forest' and 'Outta The Woodwork' the duo incorporate sludging beats, blues riffs and layered vocal melodies; it's on these tracks that Kurt's influences take centre stage. On these songs, the pair show how well they complement each other both musically and vocally by putting their own spin and influence on each other’s tracks; ‘Fear Is Like A Forest’ is a cover of the Jen Cloher (Courtney's wife), while Kurt takes the lead and puts a fresh snarling twist on Barnett’s original ‘Out Of The Woodwork’.
Courtney and
Kurt's folk roots take the limelight on 'Continental Breakfast'
and 'Peepin' Tom'. The delicacy of the finger
picked acoustic guitars on both tracks give an organic sound that fits perfectly
with each artist's aesthetic. With‘Continental Breakfast', and many other tracks here, the duo show a
clear mutual admiration for one another’s talent by letting each other take the
reins at various stages of the song. ‘Peepin’ Tom’ is Courtney’s take on an old
Kurt classic titled ‘Peeping Tomboy’. This is by far Courtney’s best moment on
the record. Her vocals complement the bright guitar sections brilliantly and her
conversational, deadpan delivery really gets your attention.
Overall, ‘Lotta
Sea Lice’ is a very strong record. There are
moments of silliness, the lyrics on ‘Blue Cheese’ for example, (“I met a girl
named Tina/That girl, that girl supplies the reeferina”) and there are times
when some of the songs seem to drag (there isn’t one tune here that is shorter
than four minutes), but the highs outweigh the lows. It would have also been
lovely to have heard a few more original compositions from the pair as ‘Over
Everything’ works so well. We can only hope this is the start of a long working
relationship from C & K.
7/10
Best track - Over Everything
Worst track - On Script
Best track - Over Everything
Worst track - On Script
Listen to 'Over Everything' here
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