Following the 1989 break-up of the Go-Betweens, the band he had formed at college in 1978 with his friend Grant McLennan, Robert Forster embarked on a solo career, releasing four albums under his own name between 1990 and 1996.

[5] The band used a string quartet that featured three musicians, including Audrey Riley, that had previously played on the Go-Betweens' 1986 album Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express.

[7] In his review for AllMusic, critic Thom Jurek said that the album contained "an abundance of brilliant, emotionally communicable and translatable, adult pop music" that was Forster's "most fully realized, seamless, and masterfully articulated solo record yet.

"[14] In a less favourable review, Jude Rogers of The Guardian praised the opening tracks on the album but found that the other songs were "lacking in subtlety" and offered "too many bursts of light when you feel like more shade.

"[16] Joshua Klein of Pitchfork Media called it Forster's "warmest and most welcoming solo album" but said that it "feels a little incomplete.