Robbie Robertson to release new solo album after TIFF doc debut on his life

TORONTO – Canadian rock legend Robbie Robertson is set to release his first new solo studio album in eight years.

Universal Music Canada says “Sinematic” will drop on Sept. 20.

The opening track, “I Hear You Paint Houses,” has a duet with Van Morrison and is available now for streaming and download with a digital album pre-order.

The label says the album is inspired by Robertson’s decades of creating and composing music for film and is filled with songs “exploring the darker corridors of human nature.”

The 13-song, self-produced collection is Robertson’s first studio album since 2011’s “How To Become Clairvoyant.”

“Sinematic” will come shortly after the documentary “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band” debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 5.

The star-studded Canadian film, which will open the festival, is executive produced by a team including Martin Scorsese, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard.

Based on his 2016 memoir “Testimony,” the film is described as a deeply personal story of how the Toronto-born Robertson overcame adversity and founded his seminal 1970s group.

A deluxe edition of “Sinematic,” which includes with a hardcover book of Robertson’s artwork, will follow on Oct. 25.

Robertson’s film scores include Martin Scorsese’s organized crime epic “The Irishman.”

“I was working on music for ‘The Irishman’ and working on the documentary, and these things were bleeding into each other,” Robertson said of the new album in a statement.

“I could see a path. Ideas for songs about haunting and violent and beautiful things were swirling together like a movie. You follow that sound and it all starts to take shape right in front of your ears.”