United by a theme of living in the moment, the songs on Keith Urban’s 11th studio album—and first in four years—certainly make a convincing case for spontaneity. The romantic anthem “STRAIGHT LINE” sees Urban announce his intention to drive “straight into forever with you” before the first in a series of skyward guitar solos on this record. “That song’s about breaking out of monotony that sometimes is our own making,” the Australian country icon tells Apple Music. “And somewhere along the line, life loses a bit of its colour and you feel like you’ve lost a bit of your spirit.” Recurring domestic cycles also inform “LOVE IS HARD”, a song about sticking with someone even when times are tough. “It’s like you can throw all this stuff at me and scream and yell and all the rest of it,” says Urban, “but I’m just, ‘I’m going to stay the course with you.’” Guest vocalist Lainey Wilson channels Dolly Parton for “GO HOME W U”, an impressively assured duet about leaving the bar together at closing time. Elsewhere, Urban finds ripe symbolism for love and perseverance in everything from sneakers hanging on a power line (“CHUCK TAYLORS”) to beach views in Florida (“DAYTONA”). Especially cheeky are “MESSED UP AS ME”—on which Urban brags that no one else leaves his lover’s bed as dishevelled as he does—and “LAUGHIN’ ALL THE WAY TO THE DRANK”, a rollicking ode to catapulting straight from the work week into the weekend that packs banjo, fiddle and even record scratching into its surprise breakdown. These songs share a bright, poppy pep for the most part, although “DODGE IN A SILVERADO” leans more closely toward traditional country and a few ballads strip things right back. That includes the closing “BREAK THE CHAIN”, which delivers an affecting reminder that it’s never too late to enact change. As someone who grew up with an alcoholic father, Urban knows full well the value of halting a damaging streak that could potentially stretch across generations of a family. “I really wanted to try hard to take a different road,” he says. “That was definitely the biggest chain to try and break.”