
	You Want It Darker With the release of Leonard’s new album, You Want It Darker, here are all the important details we know about the new album.
	*Leonard's New Album You Want It Darker* in Stores Now** From Leonard Cohen’s Facebook page: “At the age of 82 Leonard Cohen is releasing an album of haunting new songs, which the lucky few who have heard it, deem “a masterpiece” and “classic Cohen”. The album is called YOU WANT IT DARKER and arrives in stores this Fall.” Tracklist for You Want It Darker: 1. “You Want It Darker” 2. “Treaty” 3. “On the Level” 4. “Leaving the Table” 5. “If I Didn’t Have Your Love” 6. “Traveling Light” 7. “It Seemed the Better Way” 8. “Steer Your Way” 9. String Reprise / Treaty
You Want It Darker Review Excerpts "ALBUM OF THE MONTH - 9/10... Exquisitely crafted, You Want It Darker follows a snaky line back to Songs of Love And Hate (1971) and New Skin For The Old Ceremony (1974)... What's remarkable about You Want It Darker is how it melds that earlier aesthetic with the time-tempered outlook of the man he is in his ninth decade... It's become a cliche to treat every latter day Cohen album like a potential swansong but it's hard to image a richer, finer or more satisfying finale than this..." Uncut, November 2016. "Eight-two years old and still at the top of his game while mining the depths... 5 stars [out of 5]... Cohen's so good at dark -- black humour; darkness of the soul; the depths he mines the poems he calls songs... This is one of the most intense albums. It feels personal too. His son Adam Cohen is the producer (a fine job)..." MOJO, November 2016 "Deeply ambiguous yet wittily epigrammatic, You Want It Darker, is all one might want from a final testament, short of cosy reassurance. If there are positives to be found, to quote Cohen's fellow poet Philip Larkin, "What will survive of us is love." Love - but never schmaltz. 4 stars [out of 5]" Q, November 2016. "It’s Wonderful... this is not a bleak record... this record, like all his best work, is shot through with wry humor and an abiding sense of compassion. There is beauty in the dying of the light, too, and this album is like the deepest and most gravely beautiful of sunsets... In a year of historical ugliness, it’s a reminder that humans are capable of exhibiting great love and creating great wonder." Flavorwire, October 14, 2016. "5 stars... Cohen's voice remains strong, measured and assured. There is, as ever, flashes of playful humour in his wonderful use of language. The dignified music also reflects his concerns, at times hymnal in intensity, but it would be wrong to think these nine tracks morbid or depressing; Cohen’s humanity shines throughout." Irish Times, October 17, 2016. "4-1/2 stars [out of 5]... You Want It Darker, it is such a pleasure to listen to... this album confirms he has much more to say, much more to share, as a sage who doesn't offer himself as such but rather as a fellow questioner stumbling through. Yes, Leonard, if you're asking, we do want it darker." Sydney Morning Herald, October 17, 2016. "5 stars... what is truly extraordinary about Cohen is not that he is still making albums but that they are as rich, deep and potent as ever. If anything, his ruminations on life gain added poignancy and urgency with passing time... The musical setting, by Cohen’s talented singer-songwriting son Adam, is perfection... this is an album with things to say about modern life as well as death..." Telegraph, October 18, 2016. "The legendary singer's latest prepares us for his departure, but comes nowhere near exhausting his vitality... Cohen faces the inevitable while his hyper-articulate contemporaries flinch... Like most of Cohen’s compositions, the focus of You Want It Darker stays rigidly on the lyrics. Yet, notice if you don’t find yourself humming a tune a few hours removed from listening. The stealth orchestrations come courtesy of Madonna’s close collaborator Patrick Leonard, and Cohen’s son Adam runs a tight ship as producer... If You Want It Darker ends up as Cohen’s last musical will and testament, no distant relative goes without a hefty inheritance..." Consequence of Sound, October 19, 2016. "5 of 5 stars... “You Want It Darker”, one of his unquestioned masterpieces, a title-song as rich in soulful images as anything he has ever written... This is an album that resonates with presence: there is no romance and illusion, only acceptance of the vagaries of love, the pain of loss and the reality of grief...Leonard Cohen continues his extraordinary trajectory as poet, priest and entertainer. There is a depth here that eludes the Nobel Prize winner – for all his genius. Cohen courts what is most uncomfortable in the human condition and transforms that terrifying unease into something of great beauty – and in the process, some comfort too." The Arts Desk, October 18, 2016. "5 stars... beautiful album, intense, poignant... an album of rare beauty in which the music, at once rich and humble, really are at the service of voice like no other as Leonard Cohen who has never seemed so close... challenge them not to shed a tear listening to the recovery of a Treaty string quartet, a vintage Cohen of all time. That's a major record we will never tire of listening." La Presse, October 19, 2016. "A-...On his 14th studio album, the songwriting maestro—still vital at 82—is a lion in winter, his lyrics heavy with God and sex and death and his legendary voice scraped down to a subterranean rumble. Nearly every one of the nine songs here catalogs some kind of loss... The production, by his son Adam, is lush but lean..." Entertainment Weekly, October 14, 2016. "You Want It Darker gravely and beautifully accepts God and mortality... a riveting experience... You Want It Darker is all carefully unfolding, impeccably produced... For “Treaty,” whose melodic peaks and valleys are so poignant that the album’s final song is a string reprise of them, Cohen makes an apology of devastating frankness to a lost lover. The song is also an example of his gift for surprise; because his phrasings have you hanging on every word, he’s able to induce mood swings in the space of a verse..." The Atlantic, October 19, 2016. "'You Want It Darker,' is a taut display of his dry wit and ability to wring beauty out of even the most harrowing human ideals... Cohen has been honing his vision of the relationship between the beautiful and the damned for decades, and 'You Want It Darker' is another stunning examination of what, exactly, leads to the cracks that eventually allow light to shine through." The Boston Globe, October 20, 2016. "9/10 rating." Spiegel, October 18, 2016. "Rating 9/10... "You want it darker" is sublime in every moment... it is a weighty album..." Platten Tests, October 20, 2016. "5 stars out of 5... reflective farewells are very much his stock in trade, and you would be hard pushed to find another songwriter whose work displays such “an awareness of the imminent defeat”... You Want It Darker frequently frames his songs in orchestral arrangements of varying degrees of sumptuousness... the lyrics are as fascinating and conflicted as ever. The title track flips from anger to resigned acceptance and back again, its fluctuations decorated with beautiful lines... Throughout, he sounds wise and honest, and – despite the occasional lyrical protestations of weariness – full of life... the man behind You Want It Darker does not seem like someone running short on inspiration..." The Guardian, October 20, 2016.
You Want It Darker is produced by Leonard’s son Adam Cohen. Check out these great profiles and interviews: "Leonard Cohen’s third act" by Brian D. Johnson, Maclean's, September 21, 2016. Photos of the Leonard, Adam Cohen, Suzanne Elrod and Lorca Cohen. Interview with Leonard and Cantor Zelermyer, Patrick Leonard and Adam Cohen who contributed to You Want It Darker. "Leonard Cohen makes it darker" by David Remnick, The New Yorker, October 17, 2016. Photos by Graeme Mitchell. Interview and profile of Leonard. "Cohen & The Cantor" by Bill Brownstein, Montreal Gazette, September 21, 2016. Cohen Artwork. Photos of the Cantor. Interview with Cantor Zelermyer who contributed to You Want It Darker.
"You Want It Darker"
Lyrics for the title song “You Want It Darker”: If you are the dealer I’m out of the game If you are the healer I’m broken and lame If thine is the glory Then mine must be the shame You want it darker We kill the flame Magnified and sanctified Be Thy Holy Name Vilified and crucified In the human frame A million candles burning For the help that never came You want it darker We kill the flame Hineni Hineni I’m ready, my Lord There’s a lover in the story But the story is still the same There’s a lullaby for suffering And a paradox to blame But it’s written in the scriptures And it’s not some idle claim You want it darker We kill the flame They’re lining up the prisoners The guards are taking aim I struggled with some demons They were middle-class and tame Didn’t know I had permission To murder and to maim You want it darker Hineni Hineni I’m ready, my Lord Magnified and sanctified Be Thy Holy Name Vilified and crucified In the human frame A million candles burning For the love that never came You want it darker We kill the flame If you are the dealer I’m out of the game If you are the healer I’m broken and lame If thine is the glory Then mine must be the shame You want it darker We kill the flame Hineni Hineni I’m ready, my Lord
Adam also took the cover photo for the new album. Here’s the story behind the photo from Leonard’s Facebook page: "The photo was taken on a break while working on the album directly outside his front door on the balcony-landing. At that point I was taking habitual smoke breaks every 15 minutes, and on this occasion my father followed me out to join me. "It's the privilege of having turned 80 and keeping his promise to recommence smoking whenever he feels the impulse.Truth is he smokes very little, but it hits the spot sometimes. I took one single photo as he smoked with me that late afternoon on my way to doing what I really wanted during that particular break, which was to take some video. I found him particularly dapper, energetic and seemingly unaware of the camera. I have a great little piece of video from the moment. I shared the photo with him the next day and knew it'd be one of the few he'd like, even somewhat suspecting he would immediately put the photo into contention for the album cover. And he did. He never even considered another photo in its place. There's no question my father identified that energy and attitude in the photo comes from his holding a lit cigarette. He was not merely responding to its aesthetics or representation of himself; he likes the edge, the boldness, the subtle antagonism of the act, and of course the humour." *Special details about You Want It Darker:* Gideon Zelermyer shared on Facebook that he was feeling proud at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim because their choir had contributed on two of the songs for You Want It Darker: "...Leonard reached out to me in late November seeking the sound of the cantor and synagogue choir of his youth for his new album. My response: "Hallelujah!" and "I'm Your Man!" The results of his amazing invitation and our collaboration have finally become a reality! "You Want it Darker" is the title track of Leonard Cohen's new album, lovingly and skillfully produced by his son, Adam Cohen, and scheduled for release next month by Sony Music Entertainment. Two of the tracks feature a collaboration between the favourite son of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, its Cantor, and the Shaar Synagogue Choir conducted by Roï Azoulay. "More information to follow soon about this extremely meaningful and unforgettable experience!”