Bruce Springsteen’s new album lets his spiritual side shine

Bruce Springsteen performing at Fenway Park in Boston in August 2012. | Michael Dwyer, Associated Press

‘Letter to You’ finds the Grammy winner contemplating life, death and the hereafter

Bruce Springsteen’s 20th studio album — “Letter to You” — hit stores and music streaming services this past Friday and it offers listeners a glimpse into the rock icon’s recent, more spiritual musings.

The new record debuted at No 1 on iTune’s Top 40 U.S. Rock Albums and opened to broadly positive critical reception, including a four-star review on Rolling Stone and an impressive 7.4 rating on Pitchfork.

“‘Letter to You’ is bold and self-referential, using the sound of Springsteen’s own catalog the way he once treated the entirety of rock history,” Pitchfork music critic Sam Sodomsky wrote, “It is a welcome return after two decades of E Street records that, even at their best, tended to downplay the band’s strengths.”

What’s it about:

Several of the songs were reportedly inspired by the passing of his friend and ex-bandmate George Theiss. They capture the artist grappling with the fact that he is now the sole living member of his first band.

According to The Associated Press, Springsteen described writing the new album as “a cathartic experience,” and shared that he wrote nine of the album’s 12 tracks from his home in less than two weeks (he wrote the other three featured songs during his early 20s but never recorded them).

“We’ll meet and live and laugh again...for death is not the end,” the artist croons in the album’s final number “I’ll See You In My Dreams.” Listen to the full song here:

In a recent interview with “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah, Springsteen stated, “I don’t consider myself a topical songwriter (or) a political songwriter ... if anything, I would say at this late age I’m a little bit more of a spiritual songwriter. That’s what’s driving my more recent work.”

The documentary:

Together with the album release, The Boss launched a black-and-white documentary titled “Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You.” The documentary follows the artist and The E Street Band as they record the album from his home studio in New Jersey over a span of four days. It is currently available to stream on Apple TV+ and has a TV-PG guidance rating. Watch the trailer here:

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3kDY5iH