In keeping with her deliciously skewed sense of humour, Courtney Barnett reveals her best video yet, for her new single ‘Elevator Operator’. Directed by Sunny Leunig (son of legendary Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig, who himself appears briefly in the video) and crammed with cameos from a raft of similarly off kilter, counterculture stars such as Sleater Kinney, Magda Szubanski (‘Kath & Kim’), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), and musical Antipodean legends such as The Drones, Tim Rogers and Paul Kelly. Full list of guests can be found below.
It features Barnett as a harassed elevator girl encountering a series of strange, surreal characters before, just like the song itself, ending up on the rooftop of Melbourne’s Nicholas Building with her band, looking over the ledge for “perception and clarity”, imagining she’s “playing Sim City”. It is yet another potent reminder of what makes Courtney Barnett so inimitably Courtney Barnett – a gloriously odd and slyly humorous slice of life that only she can imbue with such wit and imagination.
‘Elevator Operator’ guests in order of appearance:
Sleater-Kinney
Glory! Bangs
Courtney Barnett
Bones Sloane & Dave Mudie
Magda Szubanski
Tim Rogers
The Finks
Tweedy
The Drones
Garret and Will Huxley, Gabi Barton
Sunny Leunig
Vincent Juggernaut
Tain Stangret
Izzi Goldman and John
Nicholas & Thea Jones
Batpiss
Loose Tooth
Camp Cope
Jo Syme (Big Scary)
East Brunswick All Girls Choir
Paul Kelly
Michael Leunig
Meaghan Weiley, Jess Tyler, Thommy Taranto (Milk! Records)
Jen Cloher
Fraser A. Gorman
Ouch My Face
Marni Kornhauser & Radar Rad
The past few years have seen the incredible ascension of Courtney Barnett to the higher echelons of indie rock superstardom. If her debut LP Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit finally heralded the arrival of a truly unique and distinctive songwriting voice, everything that has taken place after has only confirmed it.
From scoring nominations at the BRIT and Grammy Awards, winning the J Award, AMP, APRA Songrwiter Of The Year and 4x ARIA Awards, to playing at every festival from Glastonbury to Coachella and Primavera, to appearing on TV shows such as Jimmy Fallon, Ellen, The Colbert Show and, recently, closing out the latest season of Saturday Night Live, Barnett has shown that following her own idiosyncratic path is the best, surefire path to success.
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