Downey sings it out of his system

Robert Downey with his CD 'The Futurist'. Picture / Reuters

Consider it one of the 12 steps: baring your soul and pouring your heart out to all who'll listen.

That's what Robert Downey jnr has done with The Futurist, his first full-length album, which hit US stores last week.

Downey made a brief appearance at the Hollywood Virgin Megastore to sign copies for about 100 fans and speak about his new direction, MSN.com reports.

The roots of the album go back "probably 15 years ago in New York", he said.

"My friend Jonathan Elias had a big studio there. He's a composer. And he said, 'That song you were just tinkering around on, there could be a song there."'

While he has sung before for film and TV projects, notably on the soundtracks of Chaplin, Ally McBeal and Two Girls and a Guy, The Futurist proved to be something completely different and, for Downey, considerably harder than acting.

The 38-year-old, who has long struggled with drug addiction, and done jail time, said the music helped him out of that madness.

"Music is great therapy," he said.

The album's title "means a lot of things, if you look at its definition", Downey said. "But essentially, to me, it means I'm not as I was before."