Ex-Go-Betweens’ Forster Pays Tribute to Musical Partner

Released this past spring, The Evangelist is the first solo album in over a decade for singer-songwriter Robert Forster, though it could be, in some ways, the latest work by his former band [the Go-Betweens]. Instead, had it not been for an unforeseen circumstance, it might have been the tenth studio release by the critically acclaimed pop group from Brisbane, Australia.

The unforeseen circumstance was the sudden death of Forster’s other Go-Betweens songwriting partner, [Grant McLennan], from a heart attack in 2006. He was only 48 years old. At the time both McLennan and Forster were writing songs and planning to work on the follow-up to their previous album, 2005’s Oceans Apart. The group, which began in 1977, effectively ended with McLennan’s death.

When Forster and McLennan got together as university students, they formed what was arguably one of music’s greatest songwriting partnerships. Over the course of nine studio albums, Forster and McLennan wrote some of the most refreshingly intelligent and heartfelt melodic songs in pop music. Their sound and ambitions contrasted with the flavors-of-the-month bands that ruled the ‘80s. They never achieved commercial success or gained the acceptance of a larger mainstream audience, but the Go-Betweens were admired by loyal fans for works such as “Spring Rain,” “Head Full of Steam” and “Streets of Your Town.” After a hiatus in the ‘90s, Forster and McLennan reformed the Go-Betweens and made three more albums between 2000 and 2005.

Forster headlined two shows at [Joe’s Pub] last night, marking a return to performing in New York City since the Go-Betweens’ shows there three years ago. He had said that he was not even certain about recording again after his friend’s devastating passing. “What remained were shockwaves of grief and days on my veranda,” he [wrote](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3758137.ece) in the British newspaper The Sunday Times, “trying to make sense of it all, and of what I was going to do next.”

The artist explained that his motivation for recording The Evangelist was a song that McLennan wrote and played for Forster one night called “Demon Days.” (“I thought it was one of the best four or five he’d ever written,” recalled Forster in that same article). Eventually Forster wrote a majority of The Evangelist’s tracks while the other three songs were co-written with McLennan.

Like the previous Go-Betweens records, the album features exquisite yet pared down playing, evocative lyrics that read like short stories, and Forster’s deadpan vocals. Accompanied by former latter-day Go-Betweens members—bassist Adele Pickvance and drummer Glenn Thompson— Forster delivers something very touching highlighted by the gorgeous title track and the stirring “Don’t Touch Anything.”  There are several upbeat sounding-songs featuring some of his impressionistic and witty lyrics, including “Padanus” (“The faded blues and greys/ The silver on the water/ Seems to push so many things away”). And there’s even a happy ending in the cheery story song “Let Your Light In, Babe” about a loner who ends up having a wife and child.

But the shadow of Forster’s departed friend looms large on the album. The rockabilly-sounding “It Aint’ Easy” directly references McLennan about his love for melody, cinema, and literature: “And a river ran, and a train ran, and a dream ran through everything he did,” sings Forster. And the joy and upbeat mood from the some of the previous songs is tempered by the final track, “From Ghost Town.” With piano, strings, harmonica, and wistful harmony vocals, it is the most melancholy and heartbreaking song on the album: “David wrote in his goodbye note ‘it’s all different now’/ And it is there’s much I’ll miss as I go on as I move on.”

“Through it all, though, we knew we were honouring [Grant] by making a great record in a place that he knew,” Forster said in The Sunday Times. In some ways The Evangelist serves a purpose in two ways: it’s a memorial album for McLennan from his friend and musical partner; and it provides a sense of closure for one of music’s unforgettable bands.