A quarter of a century after releasing his debut album, Adam Brand is now a seasoned voice in Australian country music. Brand’s 16th studio album, written during lockdown, finds him gazing across his entire life and even further back in time. “1905” is a sepia-toned celebration of small-town resilience, while the title track is about maintaining personal authenticity across changing eras and tastes—something Brand knows all too well. Yet the album is modern in its own way, introducing a gentle programmed beat once the lyrics have reached contemporary times. Other tracks lean into dusty Americana and more timeless sounds, all warmly supporting Brand’s earnest threads of autobiography. The sparse piano ballad “God Walks in the Room” equates familial devotion with religious faith, and “Old School” recounts learning life’s most valuable lessons in the real world rather than in a classroom. Brand allows for some self-deprecation on the latter, musing that maybe he’s “just an old fool”. Based on the decades of hard-won wisdom collated across these songs, that part isn’t true in the least.