UMeRobbie Robertson, the guitarist and main songwriter of The Band, released his latest solo album Sinematic today.
The 13-track collection features songs connected to — or inspired by — two new film projects: the documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band and Martin Scorsese‘s upcoming crime epic The Irishman, for which Robbie composed the score.
Sinematic includes a song titled “Once Were Brothers,” which celebrates Robertson’s old group and laments his broken relationship with the other members, three of whom have passed away.
In a new Wall Street Journal interview, Robbie says about the song, “I didn’t set out to write about this, but I just started thinking about how I’ve lost Richard [Manuel], Rick [Danko] and Levon [Helm], and it’s heartbreaking…The song took me where it wanted to go.”
Another key track from the album is “I Hear You Paint Houses,” a duet with Van Morrison that directly relates to The Irishman and the book on which it’s based. The book, I Heard You Paint Houses, is titled after a phrase mobsters use when hiring a hit man.
Sinema also includes contributions from Derek Trucks, ex-Who touring bassist Pino Palladino, famed session drummer Jim Keltner, Glen Hansard of The Frames and The Swell Season, and singer/songwriter Citizen Cope.
The album is available now on CD, as a 180-gram-vinyl two-LP set and digitally. A Deluxe Edition featuring the CD, the LPs and a 36-page hardcover book of artwork Robertson created for each track will be released on October 25.
Here is Sinema‘s full track list:
“I Hear You Paint Houses”
“Once Were Brothers”
“Dead End Kid”
“Hardwired”
“Walk in Beauty Way”
“Let Love Reign”
“Shanghai Blues”
“Wandering Souls”
“Street Serenade”
“The Shadow”
“Beautiful Madness”
“Praying for Rain”
“Remembrance”
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