Indie rocker Samia has recorded a cover of Australian artist Courtney Barnett’s popular track “Avant Gardener”.
The New Yorker’s love for Australian music is evident in her take on Barnett’s lead track from her album, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, which was released back in 2013.
Speaking of the subject matter when it comes to her songwriting, Barnett has previously told The Guardian: “The one thing that captivates me in a song is the honesty of a songwriter. It could be about walking to the shop, but if it’s said with that person’s perspective then it can make it interesting.”
It follows the release of Samia’s latest single “Triptych” as well as the track’s music video earlier this week, with the video featuring a ventriloquist dummy that portrays the singer’s love interest. Her conflicting emotions towards her ventriloquist partner match the dichotomy of the song, a peaceful, indie rock track belied by taunting, aggressive sentiments.
“I wrote ‘Triptych’ sobbing in a green room in Denver,” Samia shared. “I’d just read the story of Francis Bacon and his lover/muse, George Dyer, whose chaotic lifestyle served as Bacon’s artistic inspiration.”
She continued, “George Dyer overdosed in the bathroom of a hotel room paid for by Bacon, who famously painted a triptych of his lover’s final moments. I had just been through a pretty tough breakup and felt I might be purposefully getting myself into dicey situations to justify my big feelings and write about them.”
“‘Triptych’ was a pretty blatant cry for help and an opportunity to confess my fear of being misunderstood,” she concluded.
Her latest single follows previous releases “Big Wheel,” “Fit N Full,” “Is There Something in the Movies,” and “Stellate” which are all set to appear on her forthcoming debut full-length, The Baby.
“[I wrote the album] over the span of two years, from the end of 2017 to the end of 2019,” Samia told American Songwriter.
“It was the first two years that we were really touring more than we were not. I got to write a bunch of those songs from the road and I think I realized in that process that it was the most conducive environment to songwriting for me. We were out with Hippo Campus, Cold War Kids, Soccer Mommy, Donna Missal, and Remo Drive.”
Samia’s debut LP The Baby is out Friday, August 28th.
