Pitchfork

Barroom bard (and modern rock touchstone) Mr. Bruce Springsteen has gathered up that grit and gravitas, paired it with the wild and innocent shuffle of longtime companions the E Street Band, and made a little Magic. Yup, it's a new studio album set for release October 2 on Columbia.

Hot on the heels of last year's excellent Seeger Sessions and 2005's Devils and Dust, Magic is the first Springsteen record with the E Street Band since 2002's The Rising. Produced by Brendan O'Brien-- who manned the boards at both the Rising and Dust sessions-- the album was recorded at Atlanta's Southern Tracks Recording Studio. A full tour is expected to accompany the album's release, though dates haven't been firmed up just yet.

In other Springsteeniana, Bruce guests on wife (and E Street band member) Patti Scialfa's Play It as It Lays, due out September 4 on Columbia. A pair of collaborations between Springsteen and folk legend (and Seeger Sessions inspiration) Pete Seeger will also pop up in September on a couple of compilations, as part of a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Appleseed Recordings. A take on Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" will grace September 11's Sowing the Seeds: The 10th Anniversary, while a version of the folk standard "Hobo's Lullaby" shows up on Give Us Your Poor, a benefit to fight homelessness, out September 25.

BRUUUUUCE:

01 Radio Nowhere
02 You'll Be Comin' Down
03 Livin' in the Future
04 Your Own Worst Enemy
05 Gypsy Biker
06 Girls in Their Summer Clothes
07 I'll Work for Your Love
08 Magic
09 Last to Die
10 Long Walk Home
11 Devil's Arcade