Singer songwriter extraordinaire Rob Clarkson returns after a 10 year absence from his solo career with a brand new album titled ‘Zone One’. An example of his best solo work yet, ‘Zone One’ features 11 new songs full of wit and charm that highlighting Rob’s unique perspective on life. In 1996, Rob postponed his solo career and left behind a vast following that had gathered from releases such as the hit song ‘Beautiful Girls and Beautiful Boys’ and a succession of other popular albums. In the intervening years Rob has been playing with Ruck Rover. In 2003, Candle Records had huge success with the release of a retrospective double CD of Rob’s earlier releases titled ‘Shirts and Skins’ and became the pre-cursor for Rob Clarkson to embark on the eagerly-awaited second phase of his solo career again.

‘Zone One’ captures all of Rob’s trademarks – his lyrical smarts, great turn of phrase and gentle dig of middle Australia – this time wrapped around interesting arrangements and musical accompaniment. Highlights on the album come in many forms, the infectious ‘Days and Nights’, the vulnerable ‘Bridges and Ties’ and the amazing ‘Photo and Audio.’

Combining biting social commentary with humour, ‘Zone One’ is a great return to the musical landscape for Rob. The album also marks the return of Rob performing solo, which has always been wonderful treat.

ROB ON ‘ZONE ONE’:
“The blueprint for the sound and style of "Zone One" came from the recording of two of my songs on Ruck Rover's most recent album "No Hints, No Clues, No Lies". "Please Respect Our Neighbours" and Matinee Saturday" were both fairly sparse recordings driven by acoustic guitars and vocals with bits and pieces of additional instrumentation. I hadn't recorded this way since the "old days" (if you can be bothered, refer to the Candle release "Shirts and Skins") and it didn't hurt half as much as I thought it would.

So, why "Zone One"? This album was written, is set and was recorded there. For those of you outside Melbourne, Zone 1 is the name used by this city's public transport providers to define the CBD and inner-city suburbs. I think every city, country town or community has it's own Zone One. The Zone One of this title is more about a mind-set than a geographical location. It's where you'll find the sub-cultures you left home for. It's also where the irrelevant people live, as Australia's Prime Minister and Treasurer gloated after the last federal election. The black-armband-wearers, the work-shy lefties and greenies and - get this - the "elites". Yeah, right.

I figure that even irrelevant people need to listen to songs once in a while and I hope at least a few of these ones work well in your Zone 1, wherever that may be."

‘Zone One’ released Monday September 5th, distributed by MGM Distribution. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.