Courtney Barnett Revisits Childhood Haunts in "Kim’s Caravan" Video
Courtney Barnett describes her Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit track “Kim’s Caravan” as “an apocalyptic tale of our world painted black with oil and soot, painted red with blood and greed”. It was inspired by her concern about the Great Barrier Reef, and appropriately, she stares out at a body of water and eventually seems to sink into it in the track’s video.
There are also a few shots of Barnett near what seem to be beach-side tourist spots and playgrounds, except everything looks pretty desolate.
Barnett says of the track:
“Kim’s Caravan” is an apocalyptic tale of our world painted black with oil and soot, painted red with blood and greed. The song was born when blessed with time to reflect, feeling the frustration and helplessness of the destruction of my environment and the litter of humans within it. It was partly inspired by watching Black Rain Falls, a documentary about Midnight Oil’s concerts out the front of the Exxon building in NYC in 1990.
The video’s director Bec Kingma explained her reading of the lyrics and ideas behind the clip in a statement.
In conceptualizing a film clip for the track I am keen to explore the adult attempt to return to that place of childish innocence. If you have ever returned to a childhood holiday haunt in the offseason, it’s likely you’ve discovered the sad realisation that the place barely resembles your idyllic memories. As grown ups we all yearn for a time and place where our biggest concerns were the sand in our bathers and the mosquito’s eating us alive.
“Kim’s Caravan” will be released on Record Store Day as a 12″. The B-side is her cover of John Cale’s “Close Watch”.
Read “Tired and Hungry and Alive”, our new feature article on Barnett.
Find Barnett’s world tour dates below the video.
Courtney Barnett:
04-24 Hobart Tas, Australia – Wrest Point
04-30 Adelaide, Australia – The Gov @
05-01 Adelaide, Australia – The Gov @
05-02 Perth, Australia – The Bakery @
05-03 Perth, Australia – The Bakery @
05-07 Sydney, Australia – The Metro @
05-08 Sydney, Australia – The Metro @
05-09 West End Qld, Australia – The HiFi @
05-14 Melbourne, Australia – The Forum @
05-15 Melbourne, Australia – The Forum @
05-16 Melbourne, Australia – The Forum @
05-18 Boston, MA – The Sinclair *
05-19 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
05-20 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
05-21 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
05-22 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
05-22-25 George, WA – Sasquatch Festival
05-27 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks #!
05-29 Napa, CA – Bottle Rock Napa Valley
05-30 Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre *
05-31 Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre *
06-02 San Diego, CA – Casbah *
06-05 Austin, TX – The Mohawk *
06-06 Dallas, TX – Club Dada *
06-07 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks *
06-09 Atlanta, GA – Vinyl *
06-10 Cary, NC – Koka Booth Amphitheater $
06-11 Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music Festival
06-13 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
06-14 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
06-15 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer *
06-18 Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theatre ^
06-19 Pemberton, British Columbia – Pemberton Music Festival
06-26-28 Glastonbury, England – Glastonbury Festival
07-19 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
07-24 Oro Medonte, Ontario – WayHome Festival
07-25 Newport, RI – Newport Folk Fest
08-12 Oslo, Norway – Oya Festival
08-13 Gothenburg, Sweden – Way Out West Festival
08-22 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands – Lowlands Festival
@ with Teeth & Tongue
* with Chastity Belt and Darren Hanlon
# with Spoon
! with the Decemberists
^ with Belle & Sebastian
$ with Alabama Shakes
Watch her perform “An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York)” during one of Pitchfork’s day parties at this year’s SXSW:
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