[MUSIC REVIEW] Leonard Cohen's Powerful Farewell

At 82, the legendary singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen passed away yesterday. Ever since the 60s Cohen sang words written by a man that seemed to have the experience of several life-times, and on what would become his last album he stayed faithful to this pattern.

There are small fragments of memories, scattered on a minimalist soundscape. It's music that is written for the retrospection of night. We get to hear skeptical talks with an evil god, and difficult confessions of love.

In the title track "You want it darker" he remembers how he discussed the prophet Isaiah with his grandfather, who was a rabbi, long into the night. The doomsday atmosphere is enhanced by the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir. The album is pretty much pitch black, even Cohen's usual sense of humor is darkened.

Sonically, Cohen's whisky-soaked voice is accompanied by choirs and background singers. They help in making his whispering voice appear varied. But Cohen's songs have always been more about his lyrics than the music. He captures the great emotions with grand words, without ever sounding pretentious. As he has always done. In "Leaving the table", Cohen leaves the table with a dignified gesture, with a voice so deep that it already seems to come from beyond the grave. The feeling that he's summing up his life is palpable.

Leonard Cohen has always been more of a narrator than a pure singer, and although his voice sometimes stands still, he delivers his his songs with such weight and timing that it's astonishing. Then you get sucked into a literary world where the light is in a constant struggle against the darkness.

Cohen's pen is as sharp as ever, the nerve intact. The music sounds like something that is played when the film's closing credits roll.

"I'm traveling light
It's au revoir
My once so bright, my fallen star
I'm running late, they'll close the bar"

In a recent interview the 82-year-old Cohen said that he was ready to die. Perhaps he was, but was the world ready lose him? "You want it darker" is a devastatingly beautiful lesson in the transience of life. Death permeates the album, but not in a sad or hopeless way, rather as an acceptance that it's time for the next step. It's powerful, reverent and beautiful. Cohen is ready to check out, take down the sign and leave this place. Ready for the biggest leap of his long life. Au revoir and thank you for everything, Mr. Cohen.

— SteemSwede

Leonard Cohen - Treaty

Leonard Cohen - Leaving the Table

Leonard Cohen - Traveling Light