Lotta Sea Lice

Courtney Barnett is a hilariously deadpan lyricist who happens to be really, really good at guitar. Kurt Vile is a woozy, psychedelic guitar wizard with a funny, zen-like outlook on life and how to live it. On their first (but hopefully not last) collaboration, these two shaggy guitar heroes bleed their styles together into a pretty, laid-back haze. It sounds like two old friends who can finish each other’s jokes, kicking back and jamming in the studio. This isn’t cutting-edge stuff—in fact, it’s the sonic equivalent of spending a day on the couch—but fans of either Barnett’s or Vile’s work, or slacker rock in general, will enjoy this one.

FCCs: None
Favorites: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9

1) “Over Everything” (6:20)* – Steady drumbeat keeps the song chugging along while two warm electric guitars dance around each other. The song kind of plods along until about 3:45, when something that I guess you could call an extended guitar solo begins. Lyrics are about dealing with negative thoughts and hearing loss, with Barnett and Vile trading verses.
2) “Let It Go” (4:34) – Twinkling guitar riff with a kind of marching drum beat. Song is quiet, little more than acoustic, drifting along at a leisurely pace, while Barnett and Vile sing the titular phrase.
3) “Fear Is Like a Forest” (4:48)* – Electric guitar sounds a little more aggressive here, almost like an early Neil Young cut with Crazy Horse. Sure enough, there’s a long guitar break after 2:30, and another one as the song comes to an end.
4) “Outta the Woodwork” (6:21) – Vile’s cover of one of Barnett’s songs. A lazy, twangy take that sounds like a hybrid between slacker rock and country. Goes on about a minute longer than it should.
5) “Continental Breakfast” (4:53)* – (Quiet for the first seven or so seconds.) A charming and simple tune. Chiming, fingerpicked acoustic guitar with warm splashes of electric guitar.
6) “On Script” (4:00)* – Sounds like there’s two riffs at once: An overdriven grunge-lite riff and a cleaner fingerpicked patter that dances around it. A smoldering, introspective number that, as the shortest song on the album, doesn’t overstay its welcome, thankfully.
7) “Blue Cheese” (4:38) – A sweet and silly country number filled with all kinds of lyrical nonsense: “Chinese rock and roll,” Game Genies, a girl named Tina who sells reefer(ina), and, of course, blue cheese. (For the record, blue cheese is disgusting, and “blue cheese up your woo hoo” sounds like a form of corporal punishment.)
8) “Peepin’ Tom” (4:15) – Barnett’s cover of one of Vile’s songs. Solo performance—just Barnett’s plaintive singing over an acoustic guitar. A little too spare for my tastes.
9) “Untogether” (4:51)* – Cover of Belly’s 1993 jangle pop tune. It’s a pleasant, faintly psychedelic recording with intertwined acoustic and electric guitar.