Photo: Jon Mo
There’s a mild sense of uncertainty in the crowd for Courtney Barnett at Somerset House, as a diverse mix of people, old and young, rub shoulders waiting in anticipation for the Melbourne singer-songwriter.
A cartoon clown emblazons the screen in front of us, not helping matters, and we’re unsure what more to expect. But when she and her band wordlessly saunter on stage to immediately burst into a studio-perfect rendition of ‘Dead Fox’ from her latest album, these uncertainties melt away, and the crowd swells in excitement. The clown is replaced by the cartoon music video for the song, and a familiar comfort sets in.
There’s something very classic about Barnett’s stage presence, an effortless nonchalance that draws your attention for not entirely known reasons. She’s not tremendously dynamic, mostly sticking to one spot at the front of the stage from which she croons and plays guitar to her enraptured audience.
She’s hardly a distinctive figure either, dressed in all black, and seems like she could’ve easily stepped out of the 90s grunge scene. Indeed, an aspect of her live show against her studio work is that her songs are made heavier, harder hitting, and more “hard rock” in general. Many of her performances start off deceptively normal, before steadily building into coarser, louder, or more intense versions of themselves, without overly changing the core spirit of the song. It’s an effective technique to adapt her songs for the larger, open air arena of Somerset House - Barnett’s work is mostly distinguished by her witty lyrics and delivery, and oftentimes it is difficult to discern what she’s saying clearly on stage, and her vocals can be somewhat wavering or flat. By ramping up the intensity of the instrumentation in her live work, she manages to compensate for this problem while still maintaining an engaging and enjoyable atmosphere for her fans.
Even somewhat softer songs, like the standout ‘Depreston’ - usually somewhat deflating in its depressing realism - is given a subtle energy in its live performance. There’s a warmth to her performance of it, which openly draws a sing-a-long from the crowd, yet without losing the sense of sadness at the songs core. Her band plays along excellently with this, at times coming out in full force to buoy up Barnett’s performance, and at others drifting into near silence, so that just Barnett and the audiences voices can be heard together, creating some memorable moments.
Her band are in general good throughout the set, building a great atmosphere around her songs, with slight changes throughout where it may benefit the show. One of the best examples of this is during the run from ‘Elevator Operator’ through ‘Kim’s Caravan’, probable the highlight of the show. ‘Elevator Operator’ was essentially played straight, with its dynamic, anthemic chorus hyping up the crowd immensely entirely off of its own strengths as a song in itself. In comparison, ‘Kim’s Caravan’ is interpreted slightly differently, with the band keying upon the slow repetitive progression of the song to give a more urgent sense of building intensity, by more noticeably making it louder and coarser as it continues. By the time the song has reached its climax the tension created is immense and palpable, and Barnett’s continually repeated cries of “take what you want from me” are entrancingly powerful.
This all eventually erupts in a visceral explosion of sound and lights, a cacophonous yet melodic menagerie of wailing guitars and menacing drums - not quite unrestrained, but burdened with an intense focus and anger, lengthening and elevating the song to higher levels. It’s at this point for the first time in the show that Barnett becomes really animated, writhing across stage with her guitar she extracts an intense solo from it.
It’s a remarkable moment, and one does wonder if perhaps it would have benefited from being a closer to the show instead of the more popular (but still extremely enjoyable) finale of ‘Avant Gardner’. Regardless, it’s certain that Barnett knows how to perform, and it’s reassuring to see that she can match her immense songwriting talent with a great live act.
