'No one writes about a lot of things the way Cohen did.' Read erdanton's review of Leonard Cohen's posthumous album, 'Thanks for the Dance.'
did, which is to say, as an adult. It’s a surprisingly rare distinction, given that sex is such a common subtext in music, but Cohen wasn’t reveling in conquests, degrading his partners or exploiting power dynamics like some emotionally stunted ’80s hair-metal singer compensating for something.
, the track is an ardent reminiscence of a long-ago liaison. Cohen describes a mutual seduction with affection, wonder and subtle wit. Some of his imagery is cringe-worthy—“her nipples rose like bread?”—but his rumbling whisper of a voice, and the charged interplay between simple piano chords and taut flourishes of flamenco guitar, more than compensates.
It wasn’t just sex: No one writes about a lot of things the way Cohen did, including spirituality and death. Those subjects also figure into, though the album isn’t as grave and searching as the last few that Cohen released during his lifetime when he explored themes of mortality and asked pointed questions of God. At Cohen’s request, his son, Adam Cohen, assembledYou Want It Darker’s death.
Together, they show considerable restraint on understated, even elegant arrangements that serve Cohen’s lyrics. A guitar-like Spanish laud shapes the sound of opener “Happens to the Heart,” along with ghostly piano, acoustic guitar and, as the song progresses, muted strings conducted by David Campbell that float up slowly in the background, while Cohen ties love and religion, mortality and philosophy, into one tightly constructed package that serves as a summary of his well-lived life.
“Puppets” is less redemptive as Cohen seems to question the notion of free will in a series of harrowing couplets that begin, “German puppets burned the Jews / Jewish puppets did not choose.” The accompaniment is mournful with a choir singing wordless backing vocals over a bed of synthesizers and piano.
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