![]() That said, Dear Heather is Cohen's most upbeat offering. But this doesn't get it, because there's so much more than this, too. Its instrumentation is drenched in the beat nightclub atmospherics of Ten New Songs: trippy, skeletal R&B and pop and Casio keyboard- and beatbox-propelled rhythm tracks are graced by brushed drums, spectral saxophones, and vibes, along with an all but imperceptible acoustic guitar lilting sleepily through it all. The tone of the album is mellow, hushed, nocturnal. The album's bookend tracks provide some evidence: Lord Byron's bittersweet "Go No More A-Roving," set to music and sung by Cohen and Sharon Robinson (and dedicated to Cohen's ailing mentor, Irving Layton), and a beautifully crafted reading of country music's greatest lost love song, "Tennessee Waltz." Cohen's voice is even quieter, almost whispering, nearly sepulchral. It nonetheless looks back - to teachers, lovers, and friends - and celebrates life spent in the process of actually living it. ![]() Cohen, who turned 70 in September of 2004, offers no air of personal mortality - thank God may this elegant Canadian bard of the holy and profane live forever. There is an air of finality on Leonard Cohen's Dear Heather. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |