Robert Forster – Inferno

‘The jungle is coming up to the door,

The birds that are calling are hard to ignore’

‘Inferno’ is acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Robert Forster’s first solo

album in four years – his second album over the last eleven years. Forster only

makes records when he feels he has the songs – on ‘Inferno’, he has nine he

totally believes in.

They range from the exhilarating top ten pop of ‘Inferno (Brisbane In Summer)’,

the beach shack groove of ‘Life Has Turned A Page’, via ‘Remain’s 1977 New

York strut, to finish in a way that this concise, brilliant, drama and wit filled

album only can – on the big build epic ‘One Bird In The Sky’.

‘Inferno’ was made in Berlin in 2018, during the hottest German summer in

decades. Noted producer/engineer Victor Van Vugt (Beth Orton ‘Trailer Park’, P

J Harvey ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’), recorded the album;

the first time he and Forster had worked together since Van Vugt engineered

Forster’s debut solo album classic ‘Danger In The Past’ in Berlin in 1990.

‘Inferno’ in its making is a perfect mix of the familiar and the new. Also working

with Forster again, are Brisbane based multi-instrumentalists Scott Bromley

and Karin Bãumler from ‘Songs To Play’ (2015), while new recruits are

drummer Earl Havin (Tindersticks, Mary J. Blige) and keyboardist Michael

Muhlhaus (Blumfeld, Kante). Four musicians from the corners of the world,

who, with Van Vugt’s bold and beautiful production, sound like a band of the

ages. In front of them, Forster delivers the best vocal performances of his

career

Over the last four years Forster has been busy. He curated the acclaimed,

Domino Records released, ‘Anthology Volume 1 1978-1984’ on his old band

The Go-Betweens. His memoir ‘Grant & I’ was Mojo and Uncut’s Book Of The

Year. He continues to publish music journalism, play concerts, and he never

stops writing beautiful songs.