The song that inspired Courtney Barnett’s guitar-playing style
Courtney Barnett’s raw ramblings may take the focus of her songwriting, but they rest upon a bed of indie rock guitars, which are equally essential to her slacker sound. From the eerie twangs of ‘Kim’s Caravan’ to the steady strums in ‘An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York)’, Barnett’s guitar is never static; instead, it’s tailored to the emotion each song portrays.
This is a technique Barnett lifted from fellow Australian guitarist and member of The Birthday Party, Rowland S. Howard. As she recalled in a conversation with Pitchfork, “I think when I started listening to Nick Cave and then started researching all the other bands [in that circle], I really loved the song ‘Shivers’ that The Birthday Party did.” Barnett even covered ‘Shivers’ in 2015.
After Barnett found out that the track was written by Howard, she fell in love with him and, more specifically, a song he wrote titled ‘Exit Everything’. On the epic and eerie track, Howard sings, “This is a warning, a gun to the head thing, this is a sign, a don’t get out of bed thing,” over instinctive guitar tones. It veers more into dark post-punk than any of Barnett’s work, but there are elements of clear inspiration.
Enamoured by both ‘Shivers’ and ‘Exit Everything’, Barnett seemed to make it her mission to collect more of Howard’s work: “And then I bought Pop Crimes and then I bought Teenage Snuff Film, so really I just picked a song.”
“‘Exit Everything’ is a great song,” Barnett continued, “But I really love everything, I love those two records. It’s just got an amazing bass groove, it’s kind of entrancing.”
Between ‘Exit Everything’ and the scene surrounding Howard, Barnett was so entranced that she discovered a new way of playing guitar that would inspire her own use. She explained her admiration for Howard’s ability to focus on “energy” rather than “singing really perfectly or playing every note perfectly”. As she observed it, their playing was “more about harnessing the essence of the song or the room or whatever. I think it was pretty important for me, for that kind of stuff”.
This has undoubtedly translated into her musical output, becoming even more apparent in live performances. Wielding her guitar with ease, the beauty of her live set comes from how ephemeral and real it is. She doesn’t seem to focus on playing the perfect notes; instead, she settles into her songs, allowing herself to feel it alongside her audience. It’s the perfect musical accompaniment for her poetic ramblings.
