Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) announces new solo album ‘Strawberries,’ shares the title track

The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster has announced Strawberries, his ninth solo album, which will be out May 23 via Tapete. It was produced by Peter Morén of Peter Bjorn and John, who plays guitar on the album as part of a band that included Jonas Thorell on bass and Magnus Olsson (The Last Days of April) on drums, with Lina Langendorf on woodwinds and Anna Åhman on keys. That band, “His Swedish Band,” will also accompany him on tour in the UK and Europe this fall (dates are below).

“The last album was very personal,” says Robert, referencing 2023’s The Candle & The Flame. “I didn’t write anything for about a year after I’d finished ‘She’s a Fighter’ for the last album. And then I just started to write songs that were something a little bit else. They just came naturally. I didn’t really have a theme, it was just sort of lighter, a situation a little bit outside of myself. And I thought that was good. That was a place I could go to.”

Most of the album’s songs deal in character studies, but the title track was born out of a real life event with the fruit. From the press release: “He is on holidays, he’s just had a swim. His wife is out on the beach, and he finds himself faced with a bowl of irresistible strawberries. They’re meant to be shared, of course, but their taste is ‘out of the ordinary,’ so he just can’t help himself. Minutes later all of the delicious fruit are gone, but there’s the germ of a song as the phrase ‘Someone ate all the strawberries’ has just popped into Robert Forster’s mind, sounding ‘so weird, but normal.’ Thankfully, he has taken his guitar with him. As the story goes, his wife Karin Bäumler not only forgave her husband, she actually joined him on a duet of what was to become the title song to his ninth solo album.”

The video for “Strawberries,” a duet between Forster and Karin, takes place in their kitchen and is quite charming. Watch below.

The Go-Betweens released the third and final volume of their G Stands for Go-Betweens retrospective box sets last year.

Strawberries
A1 Tell It Back To Me
A2 Good To Cry
A3 Breakfast On The Train
A4 Strawberries
B1 All Of The Time
B2 Such A Shame
B3 Foolish I Know
B4 Diamonds

Robert Forster & His Swedish Band – 2025 Tour Dates
September 26 – Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser/Bar Brooklyn
September 27 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Small Vega
September 29 – Hamburg, Germany – Knust
September 30 – Berlin, Germany – Festaal Kreuzberg
October 1 – Dresden, Germany – Beatpol
October 2 – Wien, Austria – Akzent Theater
October 4 – Linz, Austria – Posthof
October 5 – Landsberg, Germany – Stadtheater
October 6 – Frankfurt, Germany – Zoom
October 7 – Köln, Germany – Stadtgarden
October 9 – Brighton, England – St George’s
October 10 – Cardiff, Wales – The Gate
October 11 – London, England – Union Chapel
October 13 – Manchester, England – Band on the Wall
October 15 – Dublin, Ireland – National Concert Hall
October 17 – Edinburgh, Scotland – Pleasance Theatre
October 18 – Glasgow, Scotland – St Luke’s
October 19 – Leicester, England – Y Theatre