Single review / Video Premiere
Robert Forster
Strawberries
First single to be taken from the forthcoming new album ’Strawberries’, to be released on 23rd May 2025 by Tapete Records.
As the surviving half of the great song writing duo behind Australian indie legends The Go-Betweens (next to Grant McLennan who died in 2006), Robert Forster has maintained a solid career on his own terms through tireless touring, writing and recording. “Strawberries” will be his 9th solo album.
Guest reviewer is Dan O’Farrell, long time fan and artist in his own right.
Spreading Some Ordinary Joy
In these dark and troubling times, it’s undoubtedly important that music and art grapples with the big issues of the day…there’re certainly enough problems to go round. If every single piece of art consistently tells us how broken the world is, however, we’re all going to end up staring at the walls of our padded cells, screaming into the void in a worldwide version of ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’. We still need some art that focuses on the happiness that can be reached, and that’s exactly what ex-Go-Between maestro Robert Forster serves up in his new single: ‘Strawberries’, the title-track of an album which will follow on May 23rd.
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The song is a duet between Forster and his wife, Karin Baumler and oozes an almost 1950’s-Doris-Day perkiness. Forster’s last album featured some of his most personal works – notably ‘She’s a Fighter’ which professed his love and admiration for Baumler as she endured a tough journey through cancer treatment – so it’s an extra delight to hear both of them in such fine voice on a swingingly upbeat tune, albeit with the wistful undertow that characterises Forster’s finest songs. ‘What can ordinary be?’, our harmonising heroes inquire, the music helping to suggest that the ordinary, sometimes, is what saves us.
If you have a high tolerance for observing the unfiltered happiness of others, the best way to consume the single is by watching the beautifully unironic video. Seemingly self-shot from a high-angle fixed camera, ‘Strawberry’s video shows the ever-dapper Mr Forster strolling into a desirably homely kitchen, juicing a lemon before turning to deliver the song directly into the lens, with the beaming Ms Baumler sashaying in on cue to sing her answering line. It’s touching and funny, sincere and eccentric – a long way from ‘Part Company’ (although maybe not so far from ‘Karen’?) – and a beautiful example of how to embrace maturity with humour and grace. The album – produced in Sweden by Peter Muren of Peter, Bjorn and John fame – sounds set to be a cracker
Tuck into your strawberries here – embrace the ordinary pleasures of life for a blissful 3 minutes and 24 seconds.
Robert Forster – ’Strawberries’ cd/lp/dd – Released 23rd May 2025 – Tapete Records
Robert Forster & His Swedish Band – 2025 Tour Dates
September 26 – Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser/Bar Brooklyn
September 27 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Small Vega
September 29 – Hamburg, Germany – Knust
September 30 – Berlin, Germany – Festaal Kreuzberg
October 1 – Dresden, Germany – Beatpol
October 2 – Wien, Austria – Akzent Theater
October 4 – Linz, Austria – Posthof
October 5 – Landsberg, Germany – Stadtheater
October 6 – Frankfurt, Germany – Zoom
October 7 – Köln, Germany – Stadtgarden
October 9 – Brighton, England – St George’s
October 10 – Cardiff, Wales – The Gate
October 11 – London, England – Union Chapel
October 13 – Manchester, England – Band on the Wall
October 15 – Dublin, Ireland – National Concert Hall
October 17 – Edinburgh, Scotland – Pleasance Theatre
October 18 – Glasgow, Scotland – St Luke’s
October 19 – Leicester, England – Y Theatre
Many Thanks to Dan O’ Farrell for the review, catch him live if you can.
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
