Inferno
by Robert Forster
(Tapete Records)
★★★★

The elder statesman of Australian indie music is back with his seventh solo record, and at 61 years old Robert Forster is still one of the coolest musicians working today.

As one half of the songwriting duo behind the legendary band The Go-Betweens, he always played the cryptic, hipster foil to Grant McLennan’s more accessible and romantic persona.

Inferno brilliantly showcases Forster’s concise, Dylanesque lyrical abilities, from the suburban boredom of No Fame (“My mother hangs the washing and my father has jobs to ignore/The weekend that has come is the same as the weekend before”) to the poppy stomp of the title track, a tribute to his hometown of Brisbane.