The Big Read: Courtney Barnett talks moving past the shyness

Courtney Barnett is set to perform in New Zealand at the 2016 Laneway Festival.

Bringing you our favourite features from 2015. If you missed them the first time around, now's the perfect time to catch up.

Singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett talks to Rachel Bache about taking her shy songs out into the world.

Hearing Courtney Barnett talk in her quirky Australian accent is like listening to one of her songs unfold - minus the rhythmic distorted guitars.

It has been a full-on year for the Aussie folk-rocker, who started 2015 on a high note touring with Laneway Festival and the release of her debut album Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit, which received glowing reviews.

Rolling Stone described her as "one of the sharpest, most original songwriters around - at any level, in any genre." The Guardian praised Barnett's "articulacy, her wit, her funny observations and occasional cringe-making puns - and the fact her music is clearly rooted in the 'grunge years'."

But Barnett tells TimeOut she thinks her songs could border on boring. "[My songs are] personal, but pretty matter-of-fact. Stuff that I'm going through and stories about my life - and it's not too edited, it's just kind of straight up so sometimes it can be ... maybe boring."

If you've heard Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party or Pedestrian At Best, which are heavy on grunge with a loose rock 'n' roll vibe, "boring" is not a word that comes to mind. With her cool, casual style, wavy brown locks and ability to let loose on the guitar Barnett is the definition of a rock chick. Her songwriting and musicianship have put her on the road to fame, but she says there is always room to grow and improve.

"I normally write songs that I want to listen to and that interest me and kind of test me a little bit as a musician, they are always evolving as well - a song takes on a different meaning as you grow as a person or as you experience different stuff."

Barnett's music comes across like slam poetry, each word of her narrative-heavy music sounding more like speaking with rhythm than traditional singing - it all of that adds to Barnett's cool style and mystique. She rocks out like a young Joan Jett when she performs live - but off-stage she says she is extremely shy and allowing herself to be exposed on-stage and through her music has been a work in progress ...

• CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.