Bruce Springsteen: Letter To You | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Forty-seven years on from his debut, Bruce Springsteen is back with Letter To You, his 20th studio album. Coming just a year after the last one, the 71 year old is showing no signs of slowing down. But while the orchestral country crooning of last year’s Western Stars was a bit of a musical departure, Letter To You finds Springsteen back with his old comrades in the E Street Band and back in familiar classic rock territory.

Also somewhat familiar is the context of working class America’s unofficial bard addressing his nation in a state of crisis. In 2002, The Rising was Bruce’s response to the September 11 attacks on The World Trade Centre. It was his biggest selling album since the mid 80’s; and the last moment when Springsteen went from existing as the cosy familiar sound of classic rock radio to being a major cultural voice. In 2020, with almost a quarter of a million Americans dead from COVID-19, mass protests, entrenched social divisions, widespread delusional conspiracy theories, and genuine worries about the state of US democracy; some would say the time is ripe for “The Boss” to use his sizeable voice in cultural debate again.

Letter To You does at times have a relevance to current circumstances. Rainmaker is about the appeal of populist false prophets, the “faith for hire… who say night's day and day's night”. And mortality is a recurring theme, as it certainly has been at a time when death counts are a daily part of the news. The album title seems relevant to people across the world in enforced isolation, longing for connection.

Of course, thinking about mortality is not restricted to pandemics – it is in fact natural at the age of Bruce and many of his fans. A couple of songs here reference Bruce’s deceased bandmates, which indicates that rather than a grand social statement, this album is a personal reflection of Bruce’s life. Much of his best music has always been that - from the tales of small-town youth seeking escape in Born To Run, to the different explorations of maturity and relationships in The River and Tunnel Of Love.

An interesting sidenote on Letter To You is the presence of three songs written in the early 70’s, before Bruce’s debut album Greetings From Asbury Park. He reportedly rediscovered them in his archive and thought they were ripe for re-recording. Much like that first LP, they are heavily indebted to Bob Dylan in their wordy and abstruse narratives. I personally think the iconic Bruce Springsteen songwriting voice only appeared after he ditched the Dylan preoccupation to write simple, direct tales of working class life; and I think that shows through again here.

The best moments on the record are direct explorations of universal experience – of course our mortality on half the songs of the album, but also the connections to others in a song like Ghosts, and the transformative power of enduring love in Burnin’ Train and The Power of Prayer.

If anyone was hoping for Springsteen the topical songwriter to emerge like he has in the past to address racialised police violence, an angry and disillusioned white working class, or lives lost to callous government policies; it seems they will be disappointed.

But by writing about the universal themes of life – of death and legacy, love and friendship – Bruce at least sees through the constant noise and illusions of our times to bring our focus back to the universal – the things that really matter, and things we all share.

For a divided and distracted “post-truth” world - where consumer capitalism, social media silos and political lies combine to keep us in a collective delusion - Bruce Springsteen’s reflective, personal Letter To You may not be the fiery words to change the world, but it is a welcome correspondence all the same.

- Andy Paine.