Personnel: Robert Forster (vocals, guitar, piano, organ); Grant McLennan (vocals, guitar); Glenn Thompson (guitar, keyboards, drums, background vocals); Duncan Lamont (clarinet); Tom Rees Roberts (flugelhorn); Trevor Mires (trombone); David Powell (tuba); Dave Ruffy (keyboards, percussion); Adele Pickvance (keyboards, background vocals).

Additional personnel: Duncan Lamont, Trevor Mires, David Powell, Tom Rees Roberts.

Audio Mixers: Mark Wallis; Dave Ruffy; Graham Pilgrim.

Recording information: 06/27/2004.

Photographer: Bleddyn Butcher.

Though it's been two years since Bright Yellow Bright Orange, Oceans Apart is further proof that the Go-Betweens are still a going concern. It is their third recording since reuniting after a 12-year hiatus. The lineup is the same as the last time out: Songwriters and frontmen Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are joined once more by drummer Glenn Thompson, and bassist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist Adele Pickvance. In addition, there is a small wind and brass section on some tracks, and, for a change, no strings. The band dug into its past for this one, bringing in producer Mark Wallis, who helmed the sessions for the classic 16 Lovers Lane in 1988. Oceans Apart sounds very little like its aforementioned predecessor, but that's hardly a problem. Wallis understands the band's subtleties and the textures they like to evoke better than anyone else they've ever worked with. His production is more assertive, but hardly excessive. In fact, he lends the added dimension (he loves keyboards and electronic percussions) the band's records have lacked since their comeback. The set opens with "Here Comes a City," a literary rocker by Forster. Its shimmering, chunka-chunka riff and Forster's vocals feel like a refined, musical nod to the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime." It's also paranoid, clamoring for an edge it doesn't quite get to, and careens along to an uncertain yet quite arresting end. Things become a bit more characteristic on McLennan's beautiful "Finding You," with its lilting guitars, spare, clean lines, and poetic, emotional lyrics that can open veins with the fine slash of their honesty. The dreamy, pillowy "No Reason to Cry" is among the more elegant songs McLennan has ever composed. Its soulful vocal, chorus, and the way Wallis layers keyboards, vocals, and Forster's distorted lead lines give the lyrics great weight and depth. It's a truly wonderful pop song. The poetry in "Darlinghurst Nights" is some of Forster's more poignant, moving through reverie, grief, and loss. The weave of acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, drums, and percussion surrounds his voice, pushing it out in front just enough to let his words move toward the listener with enough force to draw her in. In contrast, his "Lavender" touches country music but never goes there. Loops, keyboards, and washes of guitars carry the tune somewhere else as a clarinet wafts in from the margin. Once more, its reverie is in his lyric, with a hint of the previous, as it meets the solitary present, and it's gorgeous. The electronic beats in "The Statue" are a bit jarring until the watery, warm, and luscious keyboards slip underneath subtly, only to be buoyed by a ringing lead-guitar line and McLennan's vocal speaking his desire without flinching. Forster's brief, elegiac "Mountains Near Dellray" closes the set with another sense of place, very different from his opener's. The mood is pastoral as the guitars wind and slip over one another. In addition, early editions of the CD come with a six-track, live EP, recorded at the Barbican in 2004. With its imagination, startling creativity, and sheer pop soul, Oceans Apart is the first great Go-Betweens' record of the 21st century. ~ Thom Jurek

OCEANS APART is the third studio album by Robert Forster and Grant McLennan since the two lauded Australian singer/songwriters reunited under the Go-Betweens banner in 2000. A vibrant pop-rock outing, this record stands in notable contrast to the stripped-down indie sound of THE FRIENDS OF RACHEL WORTH and the acoustic-oriented atmosphere of 2003's BRIGHT YELLOW, BRIGHT ORANGE. In fact, OCEANS APART carries echoes of 1988's 16 LOVERS LANE, which is no coincidence, since both albums share producer Mark Wallis.

Although Forster and McLennan are the essence of the Go-Betweens, the duo opts for more full-band interplay here with BRIGHT YELLOW's returning musicians--bassist Adele Pickvance and drummer Glenn Thompson. "Here Comes the City" sounds like a jangle-pop cousin of Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime" and features the literate lyrical musing "Why do people who read Dostoyevsky look like Dostoyevsky?" While the former is a typically playful Forster tune, the following track, "Finding You," is a chiming, melancholy song that exemplifies McLennan's aesthetic. This longstanding give and take defines the Go-Betweens, and it shapes this excellent record.