Courtney Barnett’s wordy musings are a joy to maneuver through. They zig when you think they should zag, lift up just when you expect them to sag. She’s an exemplar of how the oddly specific blossoms into a universal truth, bridging the gap of human experience. “Don’t ask me what I really need/ I am just a reflection of what you want to see.” Barnett invites us to take parts of her piecemeal — the parts of her we need — because she knows as well as anyone that it’s impossible to deal with the whole of someone. Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit is catchy when it wants to be, but mostly it’s concerned with navigating the tricky patterns of human behavior. Perpetually doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result — insanity or just a fact of life? –James

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