A Friday sunrise with Letter to You after another through-the-night listen and, again, the feeling of being in better shape than when you pressed 'play'.
As this war on hugs continues, the sonic cavalry has arrived exactly when needed most - and with the mightiest of reinforcements, AC/DC, ready for action in just a few weeks' time.
If riffmaster general Angus Young and his troops can deliver the same as Springsteen's command, we'll have two stunning victories to savour and winter will feel a little shorter, even in "this mean season".
Captured live in Springsteen's home studio, Letter to You packs up the triumphs, trials and tribulations of time's audit in - to borrow from Tom Waits - brawlers and bawlers. It mixes romanticism and poignancy, the personal and political, and beautifully satisfies The Boss' desire to "summon all that my heart finds true".
Billed as "the first time that Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band recorded an album together as a unit since Born In The U.S.A.", this is old pros sounding wide-eyed as they look at each other after all these years. "I'm alive, I can feel the blood shiver in my bones," is the booming chorus on Ghosts. Don't underestimate its impact on the marrow.
Freed from the vaults, three songs that were written before Springsteen's debut album - Janey Needs A Shooter, If I Was the Priest and Song for Orphans - receive a new lease of life alongside Last Man Standing and the opener/closer tag team of One Minute You're Here and I'll See You in My Dreams - more of the top-of-his-game tracks from the here and now.
In total, 12 seeds of hope have been scattered in the wasteland of no gigs. "Brother and sister, wherever you are, we'll meet in the house of a thousand guitars," Springsteen promises. Let's all hold each other to that.
The best of music for the worst of times.
