Courtney Barnett’s newest release might look like an album, but it’s not quite the formal debut that fans may be expecting. In fact, she doesn’t even want you to think it’s a full‐length album.
Instead, as its name suggests, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas is two standalone EPs smashed together as one release.
Last year, the Melbourne‐based singer/songwriter released her first EP I’ve Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris, and this 6‐song work is tacked onto the end of The Double EP.
The first six songs from The Double EP come from a separate EP (How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose), released in October 2013.
If you’re playing along at home, half of The Double EP is old material, and the other half is brand new. Barnett doesn’t want us to see this as an overarching album, but a lead in.
Review:
The first album from Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett isn't a
traditional full-length. Sea of Split Peas is in fact two EPs tied together to
create a full body of work, and it's a testament to her talented songwriting
that the track list flows almost seamlessly from her breakthrough 2013 EP How
to Carve a Carrot Into a Rose into her 2012 release, I've Got a Friend Called
Emily Ferris. Barnett's greatest asset is her down-to-earth lyrical simplicity,
which transforms what would otherwise be a mundane day or story into a tale of
intrigue and significance. Obvious standout track “Avant Gardener” is
typical of Barnett's dry wit as she explains her unsuccessful attempt at
gardening, which results in a panic attack and the realization that she
struggles with some of life's simplest tasks as she muses, “I'm not that good
at breathing in.” Her poetic words are set to a soundtrack of
psychedelic-leaning guitar wails and chugging slacker-rock chords, which provide
a freewheeling accompaniment to her narration. There is of course more to
Barnett than her storytelling, and the churning melodies of “History Eraser”
and the excitable “David” both indulge in a few organ blasts, piano
twinkles, and rambling riffs that flare into the odd guitar solo. The difference
between the two EPs is slightly obvious when the studio polish of 2013's Carve
a Carrot Into a Rose – which makes up the first half of the album – breaks
into the lo-fi sounding I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. The slight change
of pace is heard in the unfurling tracks “Are You Looking After Yourself”
and “Porcelain,” which revel in their simplicity, and Barnett herself admits
that this release was never intended to be noted as a full-length album, and was
simply an exercise in collecting her work onto one disc. It's clear to see that
together these EPs are an indicator of her wonderful songwriting talent.
All Music Guide – Scott Kerr