Francesco Amoroso per TRISTE©

Over almost three decades of collaboration, Karl Smith and Pete Cohen have continued to move through the seasons of life with the same quiet grace that has always shaped their music. From their days as Sodastream -an emblem of intimate, melancholic acoustic pop- to the present, the duo has learned to balance family, work, and creative urgency without ever losing their instinct for honest songwriting. Returning now as Smith & Cohen, they offer Half Life: an album that feels like a patient reflection on time passing, on growing older, and on the fragile value of everyday things. Letting go of the Sodastream name was not a rupture but a natural evolution -an act of awareness by two musicians who have always dared to sing their truth. And while the hallmarks of their sound remain -the warm double bass, the understated guitar, the soft melancholy woven through every line- the music here breathes differently. It is more spacious, more open, shaped by fewer collaborators and by the silences and distances that life inevitably introduces.

Each track in Half Life becomes a small chamber of lived experience: wasted time, accumulated regrets, responsibilities, and unspoken feelings. Songs like Happy 40 approach maturity with a rare, delicate candor, while Fields of Green manages to look backward and forward at once, holding nostalgia and renewal in the same breath. This is the sound of two artists who know that music can no longer stand at the center of their days but still remains essential -a lifeline, a way of making sense of what endures. Sincere and quietly bold, Half Life stands as a declaration of identity and belonging that doesn’t need to raise its voice. It invites listeners into a world where imperfection is acknowledged, where life is complicated but worthwhile, and where observation and reflection still blossom into songs of disarming beauty. Perfect grounds for a deeper journey -track by track- into the heart of Smith & Cohen’s “debut” album.

Inside Half Life, track-by-track (by Karl Smith)

“What do I say about Half Life, our first album under our new moniker – Smith & Cohen? It’s taken a very, very long time to finish… so much life has passed for Pete and I between the last Sodastream record (Little by Little, 2018) and this new one. But somehow to me the songs still feel new, and I’m thankful for that. Some of the tunes have been with us for many years, waiting for their time in the sun, while others came later. 
Half Life is an album for those of us who have been around a while on the other side of youth… a stage of life where things get really messy. The complicated relationships, ageing parents, illnesses and our shifting identities and dreams. How do we reconcile who we are now with who we thought we’d become when we were young? How do we find peace amid the chaos and sadness rising up on all sides? But most of all this collection of songs is about joy. The joy of living through every moment wholeheartedly – good and bad – every feeling, every connection, every success and every failure. We build the stories of our lives moment-to-moment so each one deserves our full attention.”

High Street

“I was experimenting one day at home and I stuck a thin strip of BluTack to the strings just above the bridge of my guitar. The sound was quite unique so I continued playing with it and not long after that the initial idea came to life. Later that week, I was walking to work through Preston Market on the way to work. It was one of those perfect spring days, full of colour and noise, when everything feels like it’s going to be ok. My dad was ill at the time so the lyrics became about stealing that perfect moment when you know things are soon going to become difficult.” 

Fields of Green

“I used to live in Castlemaine, a country town in regional Victoria, and our old friends The Orbweavers came to play a show at the heritage theatre there. I went along with my daughter who was very young at the time and it was during that show, while watching her take in the incredible interplay between Marita and Stuart, that I imagined/hoped we could work together sometime. Years passed and when the words for Fields of green came along I immediately heard Marita’s vocal on the female lead and Stuart’s haunting guitar winding its way throughout the arrangement. And we’re so lucky that they made time for us because it turned out even better than I had imagined.”

Southern Breeze

“There’s a book by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima called The Sailor Who Feel From Grace With The Sea. I read it many years ago and yet it always stayed with me. I was thinking back to it one day while working on the finger picked guitar part and it grew from there. Pete’s bass brought the song into a whole new space and then when Marty added his drums it became a new song again. It’s had quite a few incarnations this one!”

 

Good for You

“The words for this song came after a conversation with a friend who was having a difficult time… things with work and family were going sideways, and they were setting impossibly high standards for themselves too. The song became a reflection on changing what you can in the moment but also accepting where you’re at.”

 

Long Way Around

“We all have moments when we just can’t stand the city and need to get out and reconnect with nature, slow right down. This song is about one of those moments. We live in Melbourne – it’s not a crazy big metropolis like Tokyo or New York, but it’s big enough to feel suffocated by the intensity of the noise and the traffic and the constant crowds.”

Hard Times

“I had a two-hour commute on the train to work when I lived in country Victoria. I used to watch the sun rise across the farmland while we journeyed into the city. They were very long and tiring days… I wrote these words listening to the sound of the wheels on the track wishing I was still at home.”

Dreaming Too Loud

“I write more songs on train rides, tram rides, bike rides and walks to work than anywhere else. And this song landed that way – a love letter to Melbourne and songwriting and remaining inspired by all the tiny details you can find in each day, if you pay close enough attention.”

Happy 40th

“This is one of those old ones that waited patiently for its time. I’m 50 years old now and this was first written a little while after I turned 40. Early parenthood, no sleep, no money… A lot of us have been there. It’s a joy but it’s also  a struggle.”

Bad Ideas

“Mid life is when so many friends and family members choose to separate from their partners. Sometimes it’s mutual, sometimes it’s not, but it’s always hard. This song started with that little guitar hook and the story about a dad slowly unravelling rolled on from there. Once Pete added his bass part it became another thing again, the tension between the guitar and bass mirroring the tension in the story.”

Souvenirs

“I work an office job so it means I’m stuck at a desk for most of the week. Sometimes it’s ok and other times it pushes me to the brink. Souvenirs was written while I was working 30 floors up in a highrise office building in Melbourne’s Docklands. I would stare out across the city, watching the ships coming in and out of the bay, and imagine all the places I would rather be.”

New City

“I’ve felt it in Rome, New York, Tokyo, Mumbai… So many places around the world. That feeling when a city opens up for the first time – all the possibilities, the fear and the excitement wrapped into one charged moment. It’s one of the things I love most about travelling to new places.”

Half Life is out now. Look HERE for more information on Smith & Cohen.