World News – United States – Bruce Springsteen: Letter to you

Riding the familiar elevation of the E Street Band, Springsteen grapples with the intricacies of nostalgia, a tension that drives his writing and manifests in the sound of the music itself

When the world first met him in the mid-1970s, Bruce Springsteen might have sounded like stepping back in time. He sang about teenage first loves and runaways; he dressed as a greaser and worshiped at the altar of jukeboxes and on summer nights on the promenade.Many of his influences – Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Phil Spector – were at least a decade after the peak of their cultural impact A first rave review of Jon Landau claiming to have witnessed the « rock and roll future » during a concert Springsteen helped define his mythology, but the opening words of the next sentence were just as crucial: “One night I needed to feel young”

Springsteen has spent much of his career struggling with this penchant for nostalgia (Hope when I’m old I won’t sit there thinking about it, but I probably will, he sang in Glory Days, 36 years ago) Some artists evolve by reinvention and others by refinement, but Springsteen has often compared the length of his career to a long conversation: he can revisit certain themes, even repeat himself, but the idea is Make Him Move Springsteen turned 71 last month and his 20th studio album, Letter to You, indulges his past like never before Following the autobiographical thread of his memoir and his Broadway show, he seems to introduce Springsteen himself- even as a narrator, observing the ways in which music can support us, with a tone oscillating between deep reverence and loss

This simple but elusive power forms the thematic heart of the record, and it also informs the soundLast fall, Springsteen enlisted his longtime accompanists in the E Street Band to record it all live in the studio for a week. snowy in New Jersey The goal was to get closer to the untapped energy of their classic gigs and albums like Darkness on the Edge of Town Working again with 2010s collaborator Ron Aniello the plan might also have been to avoid DIY obsessive who distracted him from his simple and serious writing on recent records

Full of organ and saxophone, music box piano and glockenspiel, surf guitar licking and upbeat rhythm, Letter to You is bold and self-referential, using sound from Springsteen’s own catalog of the the whole of rock history The songs are awesome sometimes… Ghosts… and â ???? Burninâ ???? Train, â ???? in particular – and sometimes they feel remarkable just because of their old-fashioned presentation It’s a welcome comeback after two decades of E Street records which, even at their best, tended to downplay the strengths of the band.

Ironically, some of the strongest moments come from an era before Springsteen settled on these brands A trio of original songs written in the early ’70s when it was still an unsigned solo act, enjoy their first official studio releases, all animated by full group arrangements that exceed six minutes My favorite is « Janey Needs a Shooter, » « with a superb coda and chorus accompanied by Stevie Van Zandt, like a sea of ​​fist pumps rising from a sweaty crowd The other two songs… If I were the priest… and “Song for Orphans” aren’t that straightforward, but it’s fascinating to hear the band find their place behind Springsteen’s feverish word association, a challenge that translates into joyous chaos

The lyrics of these older songs are filled with skepticism of salvation and sentimentality, an undercurrent of the record’s more romantic moments (Forget old friends and old times, he yells if j was the priest ????) He broaches the idea again in ???? Rainmaker, ???? a gritty outlier on desperate people in difficult times, putting their faith in false prophets – Sometimes people need to believe in something so bad, – he sings, his voice full of fire and empathy He claims to have written the song with political intent during the Bush years, but it gains resonance from an artist who has garnered so much loyalty and dedication by himself. Surrounded by songs about the life-affirming power of music, he asks a question: what if the people we turn to for answers, transcendence and hope don’t have to. to offer? What happens after the show ends?

This darkness and self-doubt are the other side of his story: the conductor of « Last Man Standing » leaving the stage alone, with… just the ringing in [her] ears a ???? These lyrics are often offset by the E Street Band’s warm presence, like sonorous speeches, adding a new purpose to their familiar roles. The album begins quietly with “One Minute Youâ ???? re Here ”, a beautiful fragment featuring Springsteen on acoustic guitar, singing in a low, helpless voice over weak piano brushes and glittering synth When he gets closer to the melancholy, mid-tempo title song, he presents his group mates less like a triumphant comeback than a man holding back tears before collapsing into a group hug

In a black-and-white documentary accompanying the album, Springsteen’s home studio appears as something of an interactive museum, filled with old guitars and faded photos of former collaborators, including Castiles, his teenage rock band. The 2018 death of George Theiss, the Castilesâ ???? leader, inspired Springsteen to start writing these songs In â ???? Ghosts, â ???? it describes a welcome haunting of old friends who pass by surprise, in a world that may otherwise feel sad and empty The best moments of the album have a similar effect The closing track is called « I see you in my dreams » , and the verse melody shares a striking resemblance to the guitar riff of â ???? Born to Runune ???? “We will meet, live and laugh again,” he sings with hope – Because death is not the end ???? The future has never been so uncertain; the past never seemed further away But as long as the band is playing, the dream is alive

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Bruce Springsteen, E Street Band