On Saturday May 6th, 2006 singer/songwriter Grant McLennan died of unspecified causes at his home in Brisbane, Australia at the tender age of 48. McLennan is best known as the lyrical voice behind the Go-Betweens, the band formed with his college buddy Robert Forster in 1978. After recording a pair of singles, the pair relocated to London where they would record their full-length debut album in 1981. Over the course of the decade, the Go-Betweens would record six albums of lush, finely crafted, intelligent pop-rock that earned them critical kudos and a loyal cult following, if little in the way of record sales. In 1989, after the release of their landmark album 16 Lover’s Lane, McLennan and Forster put the band on a hiatus that lasted for the next ten years.

McLennan spent the ‘90s pursuing a solo career, releasing four acclaimed albums under his own name, as well as recording collaborations with Steve Kilbey of the Church (as Jack Frost) and Ian Haug of Powderfinger (as the Far Out Corporation). McLennan and Forster reformed the Go-Betweens in 2000 to record The Friends Of Rachel Worth album, which was received by fans like the band had never left. For the Go-Betweens, absence really did make the heart grow fonder, as a new generation of music-makers like Belle & Sebastian and Coldplay openly expressed their admiration for the band. The new Go-Betweens recorded three albums during the new millennium, culminating in Ocean’s Apart, another career high point and an album that would become universally acclaimed. This year a live CD/DVD package, titled That Striped Sunlight Sound, was released documenting a 2005 performance by the duo.

Sadly, at the time of his unexpected death, McLennan was making some of the best music of his career, and sales of the entire Go-Betweens catalog have continued to grow through the years, with every album still in print. An artist unparalleled in the history of Australian music, and an underappreciated songwriter of great skill and intelligence, McLennan’s wit and talent will be missed by all of us who enjoyed his music.