Courtney Barnett — Things Take Time, Take Time

In the natural order of things, parents can have an outsized influence on their kids’ musical tastes, or at least experiences. But it can flow the other way as well.

When my kids were young, they didn’t have much choice in music; what I played was what they heard. As they got older they discovered some of their own music, as they should have, but of course not a lot of that was for me to listen to – I was never gonna be an emo kid. Some acts we discovered together, like Florence and the Machine. Sometimes these days, as adults with their own taste (that really hasn’t strayed too far from mine), they have discovered and introduced me to new music that I wouldn’t otherwise have paid any attention to. Put Courtney Barnett in that category.

I think in fact this was a little millennial to millennial transmission – our friend Shawn’s wife Anna introduced our kid Roz to Courtney Barnett, and I came home one day when Roz was playing it and I found it quite lovely. So I got my own copy back in February.

We’d heard of Barnett before, and had checked out some of her other work, mostly a collaboration that completely didn’t interest me and gave me the wrong idea of what she does. Then I heard this and found it simply wonderful. Simple, pretty, but still emotional, personal. There are spots where she reminds me of Moe Tucker’s songs for Velvet Underground – something innocent and childlike. Haven’t had the good luck to find any of her earlier stuff yet, but this record and a few others I’ve picked up in recent months fill in a nice space for a quieter sound than much of what I have.

Interestingly, this record came in 10 color variations, each depending on where it was sold. Mine appears to be “All Eyes on the Pavement Blue,” distributed to indie record stores. It also features beautiful artwork, lovely labels, handwritten lyric sheets. Gorgeous package.