Avant Gardener
| "Avant Gardener" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Courtney Barnett | ||||
| from the EP How to Carve a Carrot into a Rose | ||||
| Released | 19 March 2013[1] | |||
| Length | 5:12 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | Barnett | |||
| Courtney Barnett singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Avant Gardener" on YouTube | ||||
"Avant Gardener" is a song by the Australian musician Courtney Barnett, released as her debut single and a single from her 2013 extended play How to Carve a Carrot into a Rose,[2] and later included on the 2013 compilation The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas.[3]
Background and release
[edit]"Avant Gardener" has been seen as having Bob Dylan and the Byrds influences.[4] The song itself tells a story of a woman who decides to get outside and do some weeding, but has a anaphylaxis induced[5] panic attack soon after a conversation with a neighbour.[6] The song had a music video released which showed a tennis match being played with a nonchalant umpire reading a book on Butch Cassidy and misses a tight line call, eventually leading to an on court fist fight.[5]
Critical reception
[edit]In a review of the single for Pitchfork, Mike Powell summarized it to be about "the story of a girl dragging her underemployed ass out of bed late on a Monday morning to try her hand at gardening-- at which point she suffers a panic attack.[4] The Day critic Stephen Chupaska wrote that "Over a mild psychedelic groove and a delivery that is equal parts Liz Phar and Craig Finn, Barnett pulls out language cocktails[.]" claiming the title the "best song title of the year."[7] Arnold Pan of PopMatters called it a "free-form, free-associating trip, capturing an eventfully boring day in Barnett’s so-called life that begins with her sleeping in on a Monday morning and ends with her in anaphylactic shock in an ambulance."[8]
Personnel
[edit]According to the CD single:[9]
- Courtney Barnett – guitar, vocals
- Bones Sloane – high harmony vocals
- Jen Cloher – middle harmony vocals
- Dan Luscombe – guitar, low harmony vocals
- Alex Hamilton – guitar
- Pete Convery – bass
- Dave Mudle – drums
References
[edit]- ↑ "New song premiere! Avant Gardener". courtneybarnett.com.au. 20 March 2013. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ "EP2 How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose". Retrieved 11 September 2026 – via Bandcamp.
- ↑ Powell, Mike (12 November 2013). "The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- 1 2 Powell, Mike (22 August 2013). ""Avant Gardener" by Courtney Barnett". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- 1 2 Cragg, Michael (1 October 2013). "Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener: New music". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ Donovan, Thom (26 May 2025). "The Meaning Behind "Avant Gardener" by Courtney Barnett and Her Harrowing Slacker Anthem". American Songwriter. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ Chupaska, Stephen (28 December 2013). "Courtney Barnett - "Avant Gardener"". The Day. p. 15. Retrieved 11 September 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Pan, Arnold (14 November 2013). "Courtney Barnett: The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas". PopMatters. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ Avant Gardener (notes). Courtney Barnett. Milk!. 20 March 2013.
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