Dood maar niet vergaan. Op 22 november verschijnt er een nieuw album van Leonard Cohen, en nee, geen B-sides, demos of speciale edities, maar een volwaardig album vol nieuwe songs. Een voorsmaakje krijgen we met The Goal, een kort gedicht, begeleid door piano en gitaar waardoor de aandacht gefocused wordt op de legendarische stem van Leonard die door merg en been gaat. Het gevoel dat zijn einde niet meer ver weg is sijpelt door in het gedicht. “I can’t leave my house / Or answer the phone / I’m going down again / But I’m not alone.”
Even voorstellen (alsof dat nog nodig is)
Seven months after his father passed, Adam Cohen retreated to a converted garage in his backyard down the street from Leonard’s house, to work with his father again, to stay in the company of his voice. From their previous collaboration on ‘You Want It Darker’ there remained bare musical sketches, at times little more than vocals. Leonard had asked his son to bring these works to completion. And so was born ‘Thanks For The Dance’, a brand new Leonard Cohen album that uncannily recalls the essence of his sound. “In composing and arranging the music for his words, we chose his most characteristic musical signatures, in this way keeping him with us,” said Adam Cohen. “What moves me most about the album is the startled response of those who have heard it. ‘Leonard lives’! they say, one after the other.” ‘Thanks for the Dance’ is an unexpected blessing, a gift of beauty and strength. Leonard Cohen’s voice has not been stilled. The dance goes on.
