Elevator Operator – Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett is an interesting phenomenon. Whilst certainly not yet a household name, she commands the respect of her peers, the music press and many fans, including the likes of Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon. With just one album and a couple of EP’s under her belt she has already played major musical festivals like Glastonbury and been nominated for Grammy, Brit and ARIA Awards (of which she won 4). Yet she is the most unlikely of stars, a prospect she is already wrestling with as she sings in Pedestrian at Best from her long playing debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit “I must confess, I’ve made a mess of what should be a small success” and “put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you”.

Far from being preoccupied with the trappings of acclaim or success, here we have a songwriter who puts the minutiae of life under the microscope and whose lyrically candid internal dialogue sounds like she’s saying whatever comes into her head as she plays her guitar. I don’t know if it’s genius, but it’s honest and that’s why so many connect with Courtney’s writing – it’s rare and it’s real.

So 12 months on from the release of Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit a video is released for the album’s opening track Elevator Operator and it’s a little piece of visual magic. Directed by Sunny Leunig and featuring a stellar list of cameos including Paul Kelly, Jeff Tweedy, Tim Rogers, Magda Szubanski and Australian Living Treasure Michael Leunig (Sunny’s dad), it’s a captivating and humorous film with a nod to Wes Anderson that deviates from the incredibly visual picture of Barnett’s lyrics (apart a few notable references like Melbourne’s Nicholas building where it was shot), yet becomes a complimentary piece of art by telling its own vivid story. Ultimately the message is much the same for both the film and the song: “Don’t jump little boy, don’t jump off that roof, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you, you’re still in your youth, I’d give anything to have skin like you”