The bleak and sparse arrangements of Leonard Cohens 14th studio album make his repeated leave-taking all the more exquisiteThe sage goes that it was Leonard Cohen’s son Adam who pressed his father for a back-to-basics album,one where the most magnificent mutter in rock could operate unhindered by Cohen Sr’s taste for flamenco guitar and synths. We may possess something as banal as pester power to thank, then, and for this exquisite 14th album from the Montreal poet,held by recent Nobel laureate Bob Dylan – gnomic as ever – to be “No 1” to his “zero”.
The facts are these: Cohen is 82 and – after having toured solidly for five-odd years, remaking the fortune he lost to a thieving former business manager – is winding down. These eight and a half songs (the ninth is a reprise) were demoed in Cohen’s domestic studio; they are most often simply structured and direct. Once Cohen Jr and returning collaborator Pat Leonard (1980s Madonna) had buffed them up, and they remain sparsely arranged,and are all the more powerful for it. Related: Leonard Cohen: 10 of the best Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com