The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster was already slowly shaping his eighth solo album when his wife, Karin Bäumler, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021. The course of the record changed dramatically from there, with both Bäumler and the couple’s son, Louis, formerly of The Goon Sax, contributing to the sessions alongside Go-Betweens bassist Adele Pickvance. The sound changed, too, stripping right back to quietly folky scaffolding. Bäumler’s illness also directly informed Forster’s lyrics, as heard on the solidarity-minded opener, “She’s a Fighter,” and the affirming “There’s a Reason to Live.” Reflecting on their three decades together, Forster pens one of the most poignant love songs of his long career in “Tender Years,” noting his firm grip on the past with the line “Memory is a servant/And I’ve been observant.” By the time he closes the record with “When I Was a Young Man,” he’s looking back on his life with an air of contentment that’s downright inspiring to behold.