Photo Credit: Lindsey Byrnes
In this writer’s humble opinion, some of the best, most compelling songwriters of the past few years just so happen to be Australian women with guitars – think Courtney Barnett, Alex Lahey, Julia Jacklin, and Stella Donnelly, just to name a few. And after listening to her sophomore album Hello, I’m Doing My Best, I just may have to add Melbourne’s Ali Barter to that list.
Hello, I’m Doing My Best, released in October of last year, showcases Barter’s songwriting quite well. Songs like “Backseat” and “Ur A Piece Of Shit” grab the listener with their punky attitude and energy while other tracks take a more introspective approach. “January” falls into the latter category with its lyrical portrait of someone wistfully examining their life with the advent of another new year:
Hey there January
Looks like we’re alone again
Another year is over
Left the same way it came in
Said that I’d be thinner
Said that we’d be better friends
But I’m still on the treadmill
Change the channel
And on a side note, I will point out that the video for “January,” featuring Barter laying by the side of a pool littered with empty beer cans as others continue to party around her, presents a reasonable facsimile of how one can sometimes feel by the end of the week during SXSW.
Ali Barter plays Friends at 10:00pm on Thursday, March 19.