Gord Downie to release new solo album, Introduce Yerself, in October

Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie arrives at We Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on July 2, 2017.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Gord Downie, the man who in Canada needs little introduction, will release a solo album called Introduce Yerself. The double-LP of 23 new songs drops Oct. 27 on Toronto-based Arts & Crafts, the same label which in 2016 issued Downie's Secret Path. A conceptual album (accompanied by a graphic novel and an animated film), Secret Path, was inspired by the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966 after running away from a residential school near Kenora, Ont.

Little has been revealed about the new album. In a press release issued by the label, Downie described Introduce Yerself succinctly: "This is my solo record. Each song is about a person."

Downie, the lead singer and lyricist of the iconic Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, suffers from glioblastoma, an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer. He was diagnosed in late 2015 and subsequently treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

The musician toured with The Tragically Hip in the summer of 2016, and later that year performed Secret Path concerts in Ottawa, Toronto and Halifax. However, he did not appear with the rest of the group earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Long Time Running, a feature documentary of The Hip tour a summer ago. Downie was also not present at this month's Polaris Music Prize Gala, where Secret Path was one of 10 short-listed finalists for the $50,000 award.

A black-and-white promotional clip for Introduce Yerself shows a tuque-topped, headphone-wearing Downie perusing a song list and singing poignantly against stark piano accompaniment. "Hello boys, way up in the North," he croons, "on the western side of James Bay."

Introduce Yerself continues Downie's collaborative relationship with Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew, co-producer on both Secret Path and the 2016 Tragically Hip album Man Machine Poem. The music was recorded over two four-day sessions in January 2016 and February 2017, with Drew co-writing some of the material.

The album's track list: