The trailer for “Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You” has arrived, and it promises a film that, besides being a making-of about his forthcoming album with the E Street Band, is in some ways an unofficial sequel to “Springsteen on Broadway,” with plenty of voiceover from the man about his feelings on music and brotherhood.
“I’m in the middle of a 45-year conversation with these men and women I’m surrounded by,” Springsteen is heard saying about the E Street Band, who joined him in his home studio in New Jersey for a mostly live-in-the-studio rendering of his new songs.
“I started playing the guitar because I was looking for someone to correspond with. And after all this time I still feel that need to talk to you,” the singer says, addressing the film’s audience.
“Our years of playing together have created an efficiency in the studio. Ideas tumble around the room. Confusion often reigns. And then suddenly, dynamite,” he says, as the trailer intersperses footage from the recording sessions for the two songs already released from the “Letters to You” album, the title track and “Ghosts.”
The film is directed by Thom Zimny, the man behind most longform and shortform Springsteen films in recent years, including “Springsteen on Broadway” and “Western Stars” (the latter co-directed with Springsteen).
It arrives on Apple TV Plus Oct. 23, simultaneous with the release of the “Letters to You” album. The film includes full versions of all the songs found on the album as well as Springsteen’s voiceover sections and in-studio banter with the reunited E Streeters.