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When Midnight Oil parked their tour bus for the last time in 2022, Rob Hirst went straight back to doing what he’s always done – writing open hearted rock songs that grapple with our place and times. Lifelong friend and creative foil, Jim Moginie, took leave from his other musical projects to produce and play on four of these new compositions at his Sydney studio, Oceanic. The pair brought in one of Australia’s leading jazz and studio drummers, Hamish Stuart, to allow Rob to focus fully on guitar and vocals. Playing live together, the trio created the backbone of a new EP. Then more old friends made some key cameos. Oils producer Warne Livesey mixed the tracks and added some extra bass. Jack Howard from Hunters & Collectors injected some brass while William Crighton – who toured as the Oils special guest last year – contributed backing vocals. The Red Continent EP – credited to Hirst, Moginie & Stuart - grapples in various ways with the big theme that Rob has tackled in his songwriting across nearly half a century … the struggle to say “fair’s fair”. As a history buff, he has built a canon of essential works that examine how we ended up here but this time there’s a more personal perspective; a sense that the clock is ticking louder. There’s an aching paean to his father (“Little Bits Of Wire”), a celebration of the elders who fought what became known as the Mabo case (“No Longer Shadows”) and a song of solidarity for the writers who tell our stories (“The Strongest Memory”). In “Power & The Passion” Rob unforgettably exhorted, “it’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees”. Over 40 years later he reaches a similar conclusion on the EP’s title track, “Red Continent”. The song makes a headlong attack at the havoc being wreaked on our ancient country by climate crisis and poses the existential question “how do you fight a fire, when you’re running for your life?”. The conclusion? “There’s only one road in, only one road out … you’ve got to fight”.