Courtney Barnett talks pink sheep and second albums

Backstage at Latitude, preparing to play the festival’s Obelisk main stage later on this afternoon, touring life has changed a fair bit for Courtney Barnett. “This is my bunk,” she announces proudly, strolling through a swanky black bus, before plonking herself down in the back seats. It all looks very rock n’ roll.

“Pffft,” snorts Courtney. “It just seems it.”

‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’ – Courtney Barnett’s breakthrough debut – came out in March last year, and its taken the Aussie around the world several times since. “It seems to have connected with lots of different people, y’know?” she observes, smiling. “Not just some boring little pocket of the world.”

Blessed with the new-found freedom of her souped-up band-mobile, Courtney’s planning on kicking around the festival for the rest of the evening, seeing bands and hunting down those infamous pink sheep while she’s at it. “No?!” she exclaims upon hearing about their existance for the first time. “Woah. Cute. I’ll go out in search.”

“That’s the good thing about having a bus, right!” she points out. “Normally we’d have to drive and go to the airport, but this way we don’t leave til 3am or something. I’m gunna watch Grimes – I’ve still never seen her. Father John Misty is on just after us, too. It’s a really good line-up.”

When it comes to album number two, Courtney’s apparently hard at work; though things remain in the scrappy lyrics in sketchbook stage at the moment. “I’ll record it, I guess, when I get home,” she says. “I’ve been writing loads, but I don’t really have a solid idea. Every day I change my mind about it,” she laughs.

“I’ve been writing a lot more, way more, lately,” she goes on. “Touring is so much fun, but there’s also this need to make something new. When I go home I’m making an album - I play guitar in my girlfriend [Jen Cloher’s] band… and then hopefully my album, too. Creation zone! It’s a different kind of headspace,” concludes Courtney.