“In composing and arranging the music for his words we chose his most characteristic musical signatures, in this way keeping him with us,” said Adam Cohen. Former Cohen collaborators Jennifer Warnes and Michael Chaves will also appear. Thanks for the Dance will feature further contributions from composer Dustin O’Halloran, producers Daniel Lanois and Patrick Watson, the Stargaze orchestra, Berlin-based choir Cantus Domus and the Shaar Hashomayim choir who performed on You Want It Darker. The legacy left behind is staggering, and through it, he will be remembered until the end of time.Those included Javier Mas, the Spanish laúd player who formed part of Cohen’s band for his last eight years of touring, and indie music stars including Beck, Bryce Dessner of the National, Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire, Damien Rice and Leslie Feist. Thanks for the Dance offers the inkling that he hasn’t really left us, and musically, he hasn’t. “I sit in my chair, I look at the street/ The neighbour returns my smile of defeat/ I move with the leaves, I shine with the chrome/ I’m almost alive, I’m almost at home.”

Upon listening, it’s possible to picture Cohen still there, in his downtown Montreal apartment, watching passersby. He entwines his lyrics with the love and care of a wordsmith.Ī celebrated musician, poet, and author, he remains a man Canadians are fiercely proud of. Every carefully crafted lyric is a drop of water in a pool of beautiful metaphors. To say there are highlights on this album would be redundant. His imagery is transcendental, and his regular use of the second person – ‘you’ – creates a relationship with the listener, as if he is speaking through the record, and he holds their attention rapt for its duration. Only his words can weave such personal tales featuring everything from religion, to sexual imagery, to nostalgia, to war – all delivered with reverence in his signature gravelly voice. Subtle yet passionate lyrics dance over very Cohen-esque styles of instrumentation. This detail alone establishes a beautifully poignant experience for the listener. Adam compiled his father’s vocal recordings atop arrangements of his own creation in order to create one last oeuvre from Cohen.

Omnipresent throughout is the knowledge that, just prior to his death, Cohen left instructions for his son Adam to complete the album. There is not much more that can be said in praise of Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album besides the fact that it is a dizzying emotional masterpiece. Leonard Cohen Thanks For The Dance Sony Music

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