The songs that became
Robert Forster
's eighth solo album
The Candle and the Flame
were mostly already written when his wife and musical partner
Karin Baeumler
was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in July of 2021. The former
Go-Betweens
member's songs often held a certain brooding character, and even before this life-shaking illness became part of
Forster
and
Baeumler
's days, the songs that had accrued for
were already heavy and reflective, looking at how things change as the stages of life pass. It wouldn't be outrageous to think that songs like "Tender Years," with its aching playback of big life events as a family grew, or "It's Only Poison" with references to doctors and medication were informed by the experience of fighting the disease, but they were written before
's diagnosis.
's health struggles instead appear in form of the album's loose, spontaneous production, as she was only physically able to record in fits and starts over the six month period in which the record was tracked. All these specific factors--
's predisposition for melancholic self-reflection, the intensity of a family going through cancer, and the organic, mellow sound captures necessitated by unsteady health -- all combine into a bittersweet beauty on
. The spare instrumentation and soft sadness of "The Roads" ranks up there with some of
's best loved
material, and "There's A Reason" recounts life-affirming memories sparked by finding a ticket stub to a long-forgotten amazing gig from years ago in a jacket pocket.
's straightforward songs find him looking back thoughtfully over various points in his life from an older, wiser, and perhaps more forgiving perspective. Tunes like "Go Free," "I Don't Do Drugs, I Do Time," and especially the gorgeous closer "When I Was A Young Man" all carry the same warm, reflective quality, remembering how big the world felt at 21, how quickly middle age seemed to arrive, and how much was learned along the way. Being recorded under the looming shadow of sickness gives the songs on
an added immediacy, which only heightens the power of their sentiments. The songs are honest, deep, and direct, but never heavy-handed. Mostly,
finds
taking stock of his long and storied life, and grasping at some of the many moments of love and beauty he experienced along the way. ~ Fred Thomas