“Put me on a pedestal, I’ll only disappoint you.”
For all her exceptional self-doubt and deadpan cynicism, Courtney Barnett rarely disappoints. The Australian singer-songwriter brings us grunge rock with all the bitchy bitchiness that grunge deserves. “Pedestrian at Best” is delightfully reflective, insanely negative and exactly what I was expecting from Barnett. Along the same lines of existential confusion as “Avant Gardener,” “Pedestrian” is brimming with gorgeous youthful shittiness and a love for being actively apathetic, contradictory and indecisive all in the same verse.
With her deliberately monotone voice at the lead, angry rock instrumentals give her words the extra push. Riding on absurd lyrics and the extra dry accent of her screaming vocals, Barnett brings us back to the dull aggression of Generation X, with an added sense of intelligence that is increasingly difficult to come by.