Mike Scott, the driving force behind the Waterboys has never shied away from grand, sprawling ideas, but the band's latest project, Life, Death And Dennis Hopper, might be their most monumental yet. Inspired entirely by the life and legend of the late actor, the album is a tribute by way of a sonic biopic, easy riding through Hopper’s amazing life of rebellion, artistry, and reinvention.

Life, Death And Dennis Hopper brings together an A-list cast of guests as well, including Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, Steve Earle, and Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, to help paint a musical portrait of a man who embodied the restless American spirit. Besides being a celebrated actor, Hopper was a director, photographer, counterculture icon, and an unrepentant outlaw in Hollywood. Scott, captivated not just by Hopper’s screen performances but by his off-screen pursuits, channels that fascination into a collection of original songs that capture both the man and the myth.

Each track on Life, Death And Dennis Hopper explores a different facet of its subject’s complex life. There’s a song for each of Hopper’s wives, reflecting the tumultuous yet magnetic relationships that defined him. There are meditations on his cinematic highs (Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now) and career lows, as well as nods to his days as a photographer documenting 1960s America. Musically, the album traverses as many styles as Hopper did personas. There’s dusty, road-worn folk balladry, bluesy rock stompers, and moments of surreal, psychedelic beauty that reflect the actor’s kaleidoscopic vision of the world. Springsteen lends his unmistakable growl to a track steeped in the lore of Easy Rider, while Fiona Apple delivers an aching, jazz-inflected turn on a song about Hopper’s turbulent love life. Steve Earle’s contribution feels like it could be playing on the radio of a beat-up motorcycle hurtling down Route 66, and Goldsmith brings a West Coast sheen to a tale of Hopper’s days in Taos, New Mexico.

Mike Scott has always had a knack for taking grand themes and making them feel understandable to the average person. Here, he steps into Hopper’s boots with reverence but not without a knowing wink. After all, Hopper’s life was as much about excess and chaos as it was about art. That balance is what makes Life, Death And Dennis Hopper a breathing extension of the man himself - an album as freewheeling and enigmatic as Dennis Hopper was.