Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
(Matador)

Pretty big deal that 2 artists at the top of their game can come together and collaborate on an entire LP. That’s the story here with Lotta Sea Licefrom Vile & Barnett. They got to know each over the last few years and at some point they decided to collaborate on songs with no intention for an album or anything concrete. Being that they live in Philadelphia and Australia, there was also no guarantee the stars would even align. But over 15 months from 2015-2016, they were able to put together 9 songs in the studio when Vile was on tour in Melbourne.
Comprised of 5 new original songs, 2 covers and 2 re-interpretations of older songs, Lotta Sea Lice nicely accentuates the strengths of each songwriter. The original tracks such as “Continental Breakfast” and “Over Everything” sound closer to Vile’s slack folk with Barnett’s lyrical whimsy sitting in the driver’s seat. There’s plenty of rich, sun-soaked ambiance and jangly rhythms throughout and the hooks come through right away. “Over Everything” has the duo trading verses talking about their respective lives, their individual methodology within songwriting and just plain ‘ole goof-ballin. “Continental Breakfast” is a soulful acoustic statement with lush harmonies filtered through Vile and Barnett’s feelings about family and friendship. It’s instantly likable because it sounds exactly how you’d think a song authored by Vile & Barnett would come off.
And that’s just the thing. There aren’t any big surprises on Lotta Sea Lice but in this case, that’s quite alright. Both are pretty much playing with house money at this point so you can jump in on this with confidence. Kudos to Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett for making this happen. (Dom)
Check out a track here.