Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
| Courtney Barnett
Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is the debut studio album by Australian indie rock musician Courtney Barnett, released on 20 March 2015. The album received wide acclaim and was ranked as one of the best albums of 2015 by numerous publications. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Courtney Barnett feels like a refreshing anomaly in 2015: smart but not intellectual, humble but not wimpy, into the past but not theatrical about it.
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The Guardian
The Melbourne musician has a knack for vivid flights of imagination born of insignificant detail, but this richly rewarding debut is more than slacker rock.
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Rolling Stone
Courtney Barnett’s first LP is full of sharp wit, quarter-life angst and crunchy Nineties riffs.
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Drowned in Sound
Sometimes… begs you stop to sit and think about them for a while.
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NPR
Barnett's facility for wordplay and compressed narrative has more in common with great rappers than pop songwriters, and her debut is the best rock record I've heard this year.
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Slant Magazine
Barnett’s band lends these story-songs a live-feeling, loose accompaniment.
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Consequence of Sound
Barnett doesn’t want to be put on a pedestal, but the beautifully rendered, poetic observations on Sometimes I Sit… might just put one under her anyway.
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The Current
The stakes may have been high, but all you have to do is glimpse the coverage from South by Southwest to know she's pulled it off with aplomb.
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Independent
A beautiful album about mundanity.
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The Line of Best Fit
Sometimes boasts as many songs about the tedium of touring as the dullness of domesticity – but her outlook is as relatable as it was last time around.
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Time
Makes Listlessness Vital.
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KEXP.org
Pulls us along into the sublime.
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All Music
There are no frills here but there is a distinct, compelling voice evident in Barnett's songs and music alike.
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Sputnik Music
Classic.
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Music Feeds
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is a contender for Australian record of the year.
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Exepose
Each song seems to show a completely different side to Barnett’s song writing ability with her conversational lyrics one of the few underlying themes.
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GIGsoup Music
Expect unforgettable lyrics, raucous guitar and a variety of genres. No wonder everybody’s going crazy for this album.
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A.V. Club Music
Barnett seizes on the musicality of language, with a rhythmic complexity that’s the end result of painstakingly careful choices.
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KRUI.fm
Riding on a classic sounding alternative rock guitar riff, all anger and spit and angst, Barnett cements herself as an arresting new talent, contradictions and all.
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Pop Matters
Even though Courtney Barnett has tightened and punched up her sound, her songwriting still gets stuck in your head because she gets lost in her own imagination.
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Paste Magazine
By channeling her anxiety into wonderful, shaggy, relatable and supremely catchy songs, she’s made Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit one of the most compulsively listenable albums to come out so far this year.
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DIY Mag
Make no mistake - this is a debut like few others.
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
Do yourself and the world of music a favor; buy I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit and help push Courtney Barnett up the music charts.
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American Songwriter
Courtney Barnett is a burgeoning talent whose future likely holds great improvement from this already-impressive starting point.
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Student Edge
A witty wordsmith with a penchant for punnery, Courtney Barnett has become Australia’s unlikeliest hit musical export since Sia.
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The Verge
The best songs on her record are pumped with a melancholy, painfully honest humor, cast off with the same ancillary flair that informs everything from her guitar playing to her fashion.
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SPIN
Exhilarating.
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The Fire Note
Barnett is not afraid to say what you think.
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SMH
Though locals will delight in the close-to-home signifiers, Barnett's neurotic, wordy storytelling alights on universal themes.
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Under the Radar
One the finest songwriters to emerge from the Antipodes in recent years.
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All Things Loud
“Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you” she sings on Pedestrian at Best, yet it couldn’t be further from the truth.
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Speak Imge
Reaches glorious heights, even as it rambles.
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Music OMH
Sometimes I Sit… is a likeable, enjoyable album rather than a great one. Barnett has written half a masterpiece: let’s hope that, next time round, she can complete the job.
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Soundblab
Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit is a scary good album from one of those songwriters you only encounter once every other musical generation.
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No More Workhorse
A breath of fresh air.
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Totally Dublin
A collection of pop songs that are as intellectually rewarding as they are toe-tappin’.
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XS Noize
This isn’t pedestrian at best, this is hopefully the start of a long and successful run of albums and you miss it at your own peril.
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NBHAP
The Australian songwriter and guitar-wielder unleashes her hotly anticipated debut longplayer, and we give it a standing ovation.
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Overblown
As a listener it draws you in so gently and easily that it’s impossible not to be completely engulfed by what you’re hearing.
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Financial Times
Set to crunchy and grungy music, the excellent lyrics are recited by the Aussie singer in a laid-back sing-speak.
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LONDON IN STEREO
Barnett’s debut album is a resounding success chiefly because she’s one of the most lyrical and endearing recording artists around.
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Pancakes and Whiskey
You feel yourself in these songs, and you don’t know why.
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The 405
With the release of Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, she'll be one of the most-talked about artists of the year.
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Daily Review
It will surely go down as one of the best Australian records of the year.
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Tahoe on Stage
Groundbreaking.
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The Skinny
She’s a smart one, Courtney Barnett.
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Muso Muso
Overall this wonderful debut is full of self effacing reflection, pinpoint irony and songs to ensure that the download button has a busy evening.
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For the Rabbits
Picking a favourite track will most likely be down to which taps into your own personal mindset the best, because they’re all just superbly written pieces.
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The Know
Charming middle-class poetry.
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The Fire Note
Barnett is not afraid to say what you think.
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Medium
She knows exactly what she’s doing and it’s refreshing.
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No More Workhorse
Sometimes the lyrics seem rambling, without any hint of metre or rhyme, but they’re good honest rants about whatever is on her mind.
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ARTV Reviews
Musically, this is top notch work.
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Positive Feedback
Courtney Barnett evinces a maturity that far eclipses her years. A prodigious songwriter, this collection of relatable vignettes rewards repeated listening.
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Exclaim!
At times funny, at times blunt, and always honest, Barnett proves she's more than just a quirky songwriter on her full-length debut.
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Golden Plec
All these songs feel sit comfortably together, and by meditating on repeated themes (loneliness and isolation in a highly connected modern word being chief among them), manage to add up to something more complete and more evocative than the sum of their parts.
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Wickedd Childd
Nothing can stop Courtney Barnett.
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Showbams
Barnett is sure to start ripping up festival sets and rising up lineups.
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Dusted Magazine
Puts the stinger in the spiel.
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Clash Magazine
Golden full length debut.
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L.A. Music Blog
I had to remind myself that Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit is only her debut. Can’t wait to see what she does next.
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Under the Radar Mag
When it's good, it's very good.
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Savage Henry Magazine
Her deadpan, sing/speak delivery combined with masterful storytelling harkens back to greats such as Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, but with a refreshingly nonplussed and nihilistic “fuck it” attitude.
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Slate the Disco
Once this album comes out and has a chance to truly grow on an even wider audience, I believe you’ll be looking at one of the biggest breakout stars of the decade.
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Norman Records
Filled with lyrically sharp, catchy songs, this album confirms Courtney Barnett as a genuinely brilliant and unique artist.
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Lip Mag
I’m jonesing on this album and I reckon you will be too.
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The Los Angeles Times
Sometimes you hear something new and you just know.
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Nerd Glow
Her album is the kind you repeatedly listen to and share with others, picking favorite lines and moments, hoping every listen rewards you with something you hadn’t noticed before.
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Owabm Media
She knows exactly what she’s doing and it’s refreshing.
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Spectrum Culture
Louder, fuller and more assured, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit builds on the promise of her first two EPs and then some.
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Impact89fm
Hopefully Barnett’s next album is more inspired and less forgettable.
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Vada Magazine
Never twee or snide but consistently engaging and sharp, Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit with its focus on the sometimes small, sometimes profound but always relatable is a remarkably well written and performed album and will be one of 2015’s best.
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Contact Music
Excellent.
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The Scene Magazine
Courtney Barnett’s debut album is a diverse record that showcases her talents amazingly as a guitarist and songwriter.
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Old Rookie
She does not seem to take herself too seriously, which is nearly always endearing but her talent is serious business. Plus, she’s the type of person you just want to shoot the shit with.
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Audio Sprawl
With the talent that is on display here, there is little doubt that Courtney Barnett will continue to wow us for years to come.
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Sounds XP
The record doesn’t have the same gritty bite as her live performances but it still impresses; her lyrics sound like she’s next to you, personally narrating into your ear, while the music is bright and energetic slacker pop. It’s not quite a classic but it’s pretty classy.
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Pretty Much Amazing
Courtney Barnett’s marvelous debut feels like an unputdownable short story collection set to rock music.
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Janky Smooth
Almost every time that sentence is used about an artist I love it means that the raw elements that drew me to a musician are missing from their newest work. In Courtney Barnett’s case, it is an apropos description of a subtle but welcome evolution in her work.
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NZ Herald
Sometimes I Sit captures the rugged cool that Barnett brings in her live performances. She's easily fulfilled fan expectations.
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Baeble Music
She's got that too-hip-for-her-own-good aesthetic, and her songs demonstrate an intelligent aloofness that's so relevant it's slightly annoying.
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God Is in the T.V.
Barnett’s lyrical talent is bordering on the literary, something for which she will clearly receive a great deal of approbation. And should this style continue on into Courtney Barnett’s next album, we are surely only going to see the further emergence of this most unique of Australian songstresses.
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The Herald
A headlong dash through a collection of rhyme-spitting stream-of-consciousness story-songs that always, but always, keep you guessing.
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Earbuddy
Barnett has a love for witty lyrics and a '90s familiarity that swings between Mazzy Star and -- more often -- late-model Sheryl Crow.
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NOW Toronto
A stellar, necessary batch of smart rock songs.
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Brum Notes
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit sets Courtney Barnett up as potentially one of the most important artists of her generation and is an album worthy of anyone’s time.
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Weirdo Wasteland
When it all clicks – music, words, feeling – there is no limit to how significant an album can become. My humble prediction is that we’ll be discussing the impact of Sometimes I Sit for a long while to come.
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The Short News
This is an honest album full of earnest musicianship that combines darkly humorous insights into life that will make you want to hit replay as soon as it’s over.
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SLUG Magazine
You grow more and more fond of Barnett as you listen, both musically and as a person—so much so that by the end of Sometimes I Sit, you feel you have acquired a new best friend.
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Outline
A classic album.
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Sounds from the Dark Side
If you set aside a few flaws, the whole album is varied enough to play when you’re having a cup of coffee with a friend on a sunny saturday morning yet also is nice enough to hear when you want to spend some time alone.
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Uncut
In such skilful hands as hers, it seems, even an album about touring the world and becoming rich might not be something to fear, after all.
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Mxdwn
To say that Barnett has a keen knack for songwriting would be an understatement.
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Las Vegas Weekly
Like finding a stranger’s diary and discovering it’s too good to put down, listening to Sometimes I Sit opens a door into Barnett’s blaringly insecure world, from the self-deprecating “Small Poppies” to the aggressive “Pedestrian at Best.”
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The Ontarion
Loud, head-bangable, and not trying to be anything more profound than it is, this might be one of the best debut albums in recent years.
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Chicago Tribune
Courtney Barnett album just an everyday triumph.
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What's Good
She’s just writing the present as it happens; and she’s allowing us to come along for the ride.
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The Essential
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit hits the mark more often than not.
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Zumic
Barnett provides descriptive insight into the roadblocks that an intelligent twenty-something might face, and she does it with rebellious anger and wit.
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Talkhouse
This record harks back to the ‘90s while simultaneously reassuring the listener that they’re not alone in their millennial confusion.
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Hot Music Review
Even though I chose to highlight three songs on the album, there really is not a bad song to be found.
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If Men Had Ears
This off-kilter brand of rock is the perfect tapestry for her one-of-a-kind lyrics, and it’s part of what makes her music so universally accessible.
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The Austin Chronicle
Courtney's Barnett's deadpan delivery and verbosely sprawling verses unleashed ennui that hit just the right tone for a bored generation.
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Tufts Daily
Courtney Barnett’s debut album delivers solidly quirky garage rock.
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The Irish Times
The music is brilliant.
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The Digital Fix
With Sometimes I Sit ... Barnett has blossomed into a singular talent, articulating what it means to be young and restless in 2015.
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Timeout
It’s hard not to fall for the Aussie singer’s forceful, funny and touching debut.
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Edmonton Journal
The Australian spitfire proves she can write sad-sack numbers as well as any other member of the Sisterhood of the Confessional Tracks.
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