Songs to Play (LP)

It's been seven years since Robert Forster last released a solo album. During that time, the Go-Betweens founder has been busying himself producing albums (The John Steel Singers, Halfway), publishing music criticism (The Ten Rules of Rock and Roll) and compiling what will eventually be three boxsets charting the lifespan of his former band .

He's also spent time writing music, and Songs To Play is the result of that - recorded on a studio atop a mountain close to his Brisbane home. According to Forster, the gap between albums has only helped the creative process: "I wanted time to pass, for there to be a cut-off. I knew what happened next would be the start of something new."

It will be identifiably Robert Forster to longtime fans - melodic, sharp and literate. But there are surprises too: Love Is Where It Is experiments with a bossa nova backdrop, whereas A Poet Walks is decorated with mariachi horns.