Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice (Album Review)
Wednesday, 25 October 2017
Written by Graeme Marsh
Kurt Vile’s stock seems to rise with every release, something that has been the case since he departed the War on Drugs and set out on a solo career. On ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ he collaborates with another artist following a similar trajectory - the Australian indie-rocker Courtney Barnett, who's fresh from a breakthrough with her debut LP 'Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit'. On paper, the match would seem a perfect fit, and in practice it largely is.
Stemming from Vile envisioning a new song - Over Everything - as a duet specifically with Barnett, the proverbial snowball effect then took over and before they knew it an album’s worth of material had crystallised.
That song opens proceedings and sets the scene immediately as the pair trade lazily slung observations amid a familiar electric-acoustic guitar backdrop.
On first play it appears to be nothing special, mundane even, but it will soon have you irrefutably hooked and wondering how you’ve been so mesmerised.
It’s a knack that Vile possesses that’s nothing short of miraculous. It’s arguable that he’s only ever penned one truly world class track – Wakin’ On A Pretty Day – while everything else takes far more time to root itself in the brain. Once it gets there, though, it’s hard to shift from both head and heart.
Continental Breakfast is similarly soothing, with the duo’s easy come, easy go joint vocals giving the impression they’ve been working together for decades. "I cherish my intercontinental friendships," they sing. Barnett then covers Vile’s Peeping Tomboy, bringing the song a fresh dynamic, while Fear Is Like A Forest, a track originally by Barnett’s wife Jen Cloher, also gets a new workout. Barnett’s Out of the Woodwork is also rehashed in Vile-speak as Outta The Woodwork.
Let It Go, a track penned by Barnett, details the anxiety found in a lack of self motivation, but does so in typically laid back style. The more up tempo Blue Cheese, though, twangs with a solid country vibe, while the gorgeous, understated closer Untogether treads a similar path alongside possibly the best melody on the LP.
Sounding at times like Neil Young & Crazy Horse for a new generation, ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ is mostly a resounding success. Barnett and Vile complement each other perfectly throughout and, while it doesn’t quite scale the heights of their solo work, it’s another substantial release that might warm you through the onrushing winter months.
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