Inferno

"Aside from Life Has Turned A Page's nonchalant, beatnik groove, Inferno primarily concentrates on the erudite, high-calibre guitar pop we've long since associated with Robert Forster. It's hardly revolutionary, but it's revelatory, nonetheless. In fact, after all these years, it lifts the heart to hear him sounding so exhilarated on the hard-rocking Inferno (Brisbane In Summer) or as direct, sincere and downright compelling as he does on the graceful I'll Take Care Of You and the sparse, Before Hollywood-esque Crazy Jane On The Day Of Judgement. Inferno, then, may not afford Robert Forster the mainstream acceptance that's eluded him for so long, but it gets him back in the game and proves he's recaptured the magic he once needed to keep ahead of his best buddy in his metaphorical rear-view mirror".

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"Inferno is among Forster's strongest collections. Its songs are delivered with wry wit, subtle yet biting insight, and unpretentious poetic language. Combined with elegant, understated melodies that intuit rather than insist, this is a set of tunes that affirms life with earthy wisdom, vulnerability, and steely determination".

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"Buckets of atmosphere, dry wit, subtle pleasures and unerring quality ... Forster's albums get under your skin. He's very much an acquired taste, but lyric-driven songs that seem tuneless on the surface are the ones you find yourself humming later. And the ones that seem most banal, like The Morning, have a wisdom that hits you later. "The morning is a friend," he says. After all, you never know when you might not wake up. The world might be cooking, but Forster remains an eternal optimist".

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"Thirteen years after the death of his musical partner and best friend Grant McLennan put an end to the triumphant second-act return of the Go-Betweens, Inferno finds Robert Forster in a typically reflective mode, but one with a spring in his step ... Inferno shimmies with the vigor of a man who can keep this up so long as the tunes, one a year if necessary, keep coming. Just don't press him. As "One Bird in the Sky" reminds listeners, "I eat only when I eat"".

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"Former Go-Between's deeply crafted seventh solo album achieves big things in modest ways ... Forster's familiar, fine-grained tones savour every word, alert to the quirk and the seriousness of life".