At this point in his life, Leonard Cohen sings with a voice so deep and bottomless, he may as well be singing from underneath the earth. But that doesn’t mean it’s faint, or murky, or dead. Cohen’s cracked baritone enunciates meticulous lyrics that sound searching, restless and jaunty. This has long been Cohen’s saving grace: His dry humor juices up his more portentous pronouncements.
I said something about “saving grace” before, and on Old Ideas, the spiritual meaning of that phrase resonates frequently. Cohen spends time here asking forgiveness of old lovers and of God, careful to make it unclear which is more important to him. Cohen asks a woman, “I know you have to hate me, but could you hate me less?” as female voices rise up, as if in support of the old man’s position. Perhaps he hired them, one is left to imagine, to provide support for his wooing of the woman he’s imploring. “Have mercy on me, baby,” he concludes. The instrumentation and genres on Old Ideas vary: Some songs are smooth pop ballads that slide along keyboard riffs, while others are folkier, with prominent acoustic guitar. A good example of Cohen’s kind of folk music is “Crazy to Love You.”
Listen to the full review on NPR’s Fresh Air
Listen to the album, via Guardian
