The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Leonard Cohen's last studio album (2016)
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Karren B
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by Karren B »

cohenadmirer wrote
Not a great drawing on that french cover .
Geoffrey could do much better!
MUCH BETTER!...If 'You Want It Darker'.

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It will give you strength'
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by Born With The Gift Of A G »

"Little lady.....I AM Kris Kristofferson....."
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by Goldin »

Re: Les Inrockuptibles' cover -
I guess, the idea was to attract readers, not to scare them.
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by Goldin »

You Want It Darker Press Conference - 1
https://www.facebook.com/leonardcohen/v ... 631529644/
Last week, Leonard Cohen sat down in Los Angeles with his producer and son Adam Cohen and press from around the world to listen to his new album and take questions. This is the first of many clips from that event that we'll share with you over the coming days.
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

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You Want It Darker Press Conference - 1
https://www.facebook.com/leonardcohen/v ... 631529644/
There's a beautiful comment to this video, by Karin Stankewitz:
Even when he speaks he sings...
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by MarieM »

Les inRockuptibles interview provided thanks to Dominique Boile:

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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by emaspac »

For the most part, I feel that the recent clown scares across multiple states are harmless but creepy. The motivation for dressing up as a clown and, in most cases, simply loitering, confuses me. What interests me most about the whole trend is not the faux-clown’s compulsion but the “real” clown’s indignant reaction. Both characters merely dress a part. But, the “real” clown feels a right to their act and a justification in accusing their counterpart of cheapening their jolly role. Leonard Cohen’s new album, You Want it Darker, reminds me of this spooky identity issue. Leonard Cohen plays the fake clown. He’s strictly human, he’s benign and mild. Yet, his voice, his chords and his lyrics combine to eerily alarm listeners. Despite his scary movie-like sounds’ fictitious quality, Cohen’s album means something.

His album asks the question: who is the “real” clown? Who’s acting a part and who’s acting out their own emotions? In current news stories, it seems that neither party genuinely feels clown-like. The professional clown’s resentment roots in financial concerns. The imitative clown’s actions stem from, I believe, boredom and irrationality. Leonard Cohen, as a performer, truly lives what he sings. You Want it Darker convinces me that Cohen feels his haunting music for no other reason but that it matches his emotions. Every spooky note serves a purpose. The album isn’t just a track-list for October; it’s more than Halloween music.

Cohen’s singing can barely be called that. He hones into his voice’s deep raspy register and symphonically speaks. The resulting sound booms like an underground sermon. “You Want it Darker,” the record’s first track, draws the listener down to a lightless church. Like a starless night, his first track sends the listener to a slimy, stone cold mass. Cohen’s voice emerges like a priest’s at confession, but the artist already knows your sins. He relays the message upward: “I’m ready, my lord,” and speaks on behalf of his audience as each chord carries away the listeners’ thoughts. Cohen both calls out and responds to an endless emotional chamber. Managing every spectrum of feeling, he plays an all-knowing narrator. His lyrics echo his complexities and only a continuous understanding links each variant concept. No specific tone or emotion monopolizes his music. The eeriness in his sound stems not only from the sort of “Monster Mash” undertone but the impression of familiarity. His commercial-worthy tone elicits an intimacy between speaker and listener — like that between two friends who thought they’d never meet again. Cohen sees through you. And as he sings, “I’m ready, my lord,” I’m unsure if we’re “ready” for death or rebirth. Regardless, the track list continues and I’m still listening.

Contradiction characterizes Cohen’s album. The music spooks while the lyrics sadden. Lively melodies carry sincere words. Cohen, at times, sounds like a Halloween recording; at others, he intonates like Frosty the Snowman, and at another his violin plays a processional melody. Irony invades his music when this strangely familiar voice utters strong and incongruent words. The inconsistency between Frosty-like tone and serious sentiment sends a message to listeners. Cohen’s sincerity lends itself to this paradox. He’s human. His sounds capture genuine feelings, never entirely one emotion or the other. He appears untainted by public pressure to sell albums. Standing firmly in his identity, he poses as someone else and acts unpredictably. The idea reminds me of Sara Bareilles’ 2007 hit, “Love Song.” Cohen won’t write you a love song “’cause you asked for it / ‘cause you need one.” Cohen, like Bareilles, pretends to do so, only to write what really matters. He sings to this deception in “Treaty”: “Only one of us was real and that was me.” He’s like an eighty degree day during Ithaca’s Fall. Surprising.

Despite the spooky undertones in his music, his unmasking isn’t scary, it’s honest. The album progresses from his first haunting track to less threatening melodies. His lyrics mirror this progression. Cohen lures you down into a dark conscious space and then turns the lights on. And, “there’s nobody missing.” After its first track, You Want it Darker, reflects Cohen’s true identity: “He shed[s] his scales to find the snake within.”

Cohen poses as the fake clown but too many of his tracks blow his cover. Cohen might sympathize with these irrational actors but he isn’t one himself. His emotions and his tone allow him to take on many faces in his music. He haunts, he comforts, he surprises and he reveals his complicatedness. Above all, he persuades. Of course, Cohen, too, may just play a part. Regardless, he convinces me. He moves me with every impassioned lyric and powerful melody. You Want it Darker resonates with familiar sounds and unprecedented combinations.
Julia Curley, http://cornellsun.com/2016/10/19/test-s ... it-darker/
yoeri
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by yoeri »

In Dutch (Belgium): 4 stars out of 5; very positive review in text

http://www.demorgen.be/muziek/-you-want ... -b8f7d395/
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by yoeri »

A magnificent review by "a superfan" on Dutch TV (almost 13 minutes):

http://www.joop.nl/nieuws/superfan-mart ... nard-cohen
2008: Athens
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2010: Gent, Lille
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Dem
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Leonard's intereview to Les Inrockuptibles

Post by Dem »

Dear friends,

I am posting here the short intereview (via email)
that Leonard gave for the new issue of Les Inrockuptibles magazine
in case someone would like to translate it for us in English.

The google translator does a poor job and the nuances of Leonard's answers
i am afraid are lost.

Dem


Quand vous revoyez la pochette de votre premier album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, sorti en 1967, que ressentez-vous en découvrant la photo ?
Vous reconnaissez cet homme, vous êtes toujours proche de lui ?

C'était un bon gars, armé de bonnes intentions. Son obsession, c'était de déterminer des stratégies, souvent même téméraires, afin de vaincre une sévère dépression. Malgré les avertissements de sa mère, il avait tendance à faire confiance à tout le monde.

Sur votre nouvel album You Want It Darker, on entend la chorale de la synagogue Shaar Hashomayim du Québec. Pourquoi ces chœurs ?
Petit garçon déjà, j'adorais les entendre chanter. Grâce à eux, la corvée que représentait ma présence obligatoire à la synagogue devenait un plaisir.
Je rêvais depuis longtemps de travailler avec le cantor et sa chorale. Malheureusement, des années de
tournées m'ont éloigné de ce projet. Et puis, accessoirement mais fondamentalement quand même, il y a des moments où vous voulez afficher votre drapeau, rappeler que cette culture peut vous nourrir, qu'elle n'est pas totalement hors sujet par rapport à la situation actuelle, qu'il n'est pas dans l'intérêt d'une nation de la rejeter, de la haïr. Ceci est plus important dans certains pays que dans d'autres.

Diriez-vous que You Want It Darker est votre album “le plus juif” ?
Je n'ai pas l'impression de me trouver face à une table garnie, à choisir tel ou tel plat en fonction de mon appétit. Des miettes de possibilités se présentent. Très peu. La chanson qui m'intéresse, c'est celle qui est affamée. Ça se passe sans théologie. Dans ce cas précis, j'ai eu la chance qu'on me serve les plats rassurants de mon enfance.

Quand avez-vous pris conscience de votre mortalité ?
Je n'en ai toujours pas conscience. Comme dirait mon ami et poète Irving Layton : "Je n'ai pas peur de la mort. Ce sont les préliminaires qui m'inquiètent. "

A quel point avez-vous récemment été affecté par la disparition de Marianne Ihlen, la muse de vos jeunes années ?
De la même manière que n'importe quel fils de pute sans le moindre cœur l'aurait été face à l'amputation impitoyable de son propre passé.

Vous vous souvenez de la dernière fois que vous avez pleuré ?
Oui, c'était au cinéma.

Au début et à la fin de You Want It Darker, vous mentionnez un “traité”. Quelle est sa nature ?
Il s'agit d'un traité entre votre amour et le mien, ces deux amours restent totalement impénétrables, indéchiffrables l'un pour l'autre. Un homme avec lequel j'ai étudié a dit : "Aimer son voisin ? Difficile. Pourquoi ne pas plutôt dire : 'Essaie de ne pas détester ton voisin'. " A moins que la situation représente une menace mortellle, laissez donc vivre celle ou celui que vous aimez (et tous les autres, par la même occasion).

On connaît votre relation particulière à Paris. Comment avez-vous vécu les attaques de 2015 ?
J'ai dû dire au revoir à ceux que je voulais ne jamais perdre.

Dans votre vie comme dans votre musique, vous vous êtes débarrassé du superflu, de la vanité...
Ce sont plutôt eux qui se sont débarrassés de moi ! Je n'ai aucune gloire à en tirer. Quelques-uns des sept péchés capitaux semblent avoir perdu tout intérêt pour ma personne, pour ce corps immobile.

Vous avez chanté “être né avec le don d'une voix en or". Quelle est aujourd’hui votre relation au chant ?
Ça a commencé par un mariage très emprunté.
Puis les disputes se sont estompées. Et aujourd'hui nous ne parlons plus de divorce.

Vous avez toujours eu la réputation d’être un bon vivant. Quels sont vos plaisirs désormais ?
Prendre le café sur le balcon de mon vieux duplex, le chat à mes pieds, avec quelques biscuits.
Et un carnet de notes à portée de main. Et personne pour venir me déranger.

En 1963, vous avez écrit, après la sortie de votre premier roman The Favourite Game : “N'importe quelle personne avec des oreilles se rendra compte que j'ai déchiqueté des orchestres pour parvenir à la simplicité de ma ligne mélodique." Vous avez utilisé un orchestre sur You Want It Darker. Mais diriez-vous la même chose aujourd’hui ?
Qu'est-ce que j'étais chiant ! Je suis beaucoup moins péremptoire aujourd'hui que je ne l'étais à l'époque. Il arrive que de vagues pensées concernant mon travail remontent des profondeurs et flottent à la surface, mais elles deviennent de plus en plus irrécupérables. ■
Athens 2008, Prague 2009, Paris 2012
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by Born With The Gift Of A G »

"Little lady.....I AM Kris Kristofferson....."
London: 10 & 11 May 1993; Manchester: 17, 18, 19 & 20 June 2008; Vienna: 25 September 2008; London: 17 November 2008; Paris: 26 November 2008; Manchester: 30 November 2008; Liverpool: 14 July 2009; Paris: 28 September 2012; Manchester: 31 August 2013; Leeds: 7 September 2013.
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Re: The Darker Album and the Songs

Post by Mistygris »

Hi, I'm going to translate the interview in Les Inrockuptibles. Be patient! Thanks
London, 1976. Monaco, 2009.
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Re: The Darker Album and the Songs

Post by Mistygris »

Hi, Me again! I have done my best with the translation of the interview in the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. Please forgive me for any mistakes, I'm not a professional translator - just wanting to try and help :?


When you see the cover of your first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, out in 1967, how do you feel about seeing that photo now ? Do you recognise that man, are you still close to him ?

LC : He was a good guy, full of good intentions. His obsession was to determine strategies, often even reckless, with the aim to to overcome sévère dépression. Despite the warnings of his mother, he tended to trust everyone.

On your new album « You Want it Darker » we can hear the chorale of the synagogue Shaar Hashomayim in Quebec. Why this choir ?

LC : As a small boy I loved listenting to them singing. Thanks to them the drudgery of being forced to attend the synagogue became a pleasure. I dreamt of working with the cantor of this choir for a long time. Unfortunately, years of being on the road drove me away from this project. Then, incidentally but even so fundamentally there are moments when you want to show your colours, remind us that this culture can feed you, that it’s not completely off topic with regard to the présent situation, that it’s not in the interest of a nation to reject it, to hate it. This is more important in certain countries than others.

Would you say that You Want it Darker is your most jewish album ?

LC : I don’t have the impression of facing a packed table, chosing this dish or that depending on my appetite. Crumbs of possibilities offer themselves. Very few. The song that interests me, is the one that is starving. This happens without theology. In this precise case, I was lucky to have been served reasuring dishes from my childhood.

When did you become aware of your mortality ?

LC : I am still not aware. As my friend and poet Irving Layton would say : « I am not afraid of death. It’s the preliminaries that worry me ».

How did the récent disparition of Marianne Ihlen, the muse of your youth, affect you ?

LC : The same way that any son of a bitch without a heart would react to the pitiless amputation of his past.

Do you remember the last time you cried ?

LC : Yes, at the cinéma

At the beginning and at the end of You Want it Darker, you mention a « treaty ». What is the nature of it ?

It is a treaty between your love and mine, the two lovers remain completley unscrutable (unfathomable ?) , indecipherable one for the other. A man with whom I studied once said : « Love your neighbour ? Difficult. Why not just say : try to not hate your neighbour » Unless the situation represents a mortal danger, let the one you love live (and at the same time all the others).

We know your special connection with Paris. How did you feel about the attacks in 2015 ?

LC : I had to say goodbye to those I never wanted to lose.

In your life, as in your music, you dismissed the superflous, vanity …

LC : On the contrary it’s them that dismissed me ! No crédit to me. A few of the seven Deadly sins have lost their interest for me, for this motionless body.

You sang « born with the gift of a golden voice ». Today, what is your relationship to singing ?

LC : That began with a very borrowed mariage. Then the disputes died down. Today we no long talk of divorce.

You always had the réputation of liking the good life. Nowadays, what are your pleasures ?

LC : Drinking coffee on the terrace of my appartment, the cat sitting at my feet, with a few biscuits. And a notebook close to hand. And nobody to disturb me.

In 1963 you wrote, after publication of your first novel « The Favorite Game » : « Anybody with ears will realise that I have shredded orchestras to attain the simplicity of my melody ». You had an orchestra on « You Want it Darker ». Would you say the same thing now ?

LC : I was such a pain then ! Nowadays I am much less peremptory than I was in those days. Occasionally vague thoughts concerning my work re-surface from the depths, but they become more and more irrecoverable.
London, 1976. Monaco, 2009.
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Re: The Darker album: Interviews and reviews in the media

Post by HugoD »

Very nice review in de " Volkskrant " (Dutch newspaper) http://www.volkskrant.nl/recensies/de-n ... cf60220749

In short it says "his latest album is one of his best"
Lille 2010, Dublin 2012, Mannheim 2013, Rotterdam 2013, Montréal 2017
Happiness is just the side effect of a meaningful life.
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