You Want It Darker
Leonard Cohen
(Columbia)
Three-and-a-half stars
There is, notably, no question mark after the title of Leonard Cohen's 14th album. The Canadian songwriter is not asking his listeners, but telling them – You Want It Darker. In his 83rd year, Cohen knows the self-masochistic tendencies of his fans well, but whether they want it this way or not, it sounds like Cohen himself willing things to blacker hues. At the twilight of his life, this is a man writing for no one but himself.
“If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game,” begins the opening title track, setting the tone of fragile mortality that weighs on this studied cycle of quiet rage. “I’m ready, my Lord,” the chorus ends. Speaking, not singing, Cohen’s hoarse, time-ravaged, voice intones intently over cold, metallic beats and a haunting choir of voices, the mood somewhere between invocation, and resignation.
This is the sound of a man, looking life squarely in the eye, a life that has refused to go out quietly, whatever its author’s wishes. After 15 years away from the stage – during which he embraced Zen Buddhism – Cohen spent much of the 2008-2013 period on tour, re-earning the millions a manager had swindled from him. Of the five albums he has released in the past quarter-century, three have come in the past five years.
The sense of score settling is unavoidable.
"I don't need a reason / For what I became / I've got these excuses / They're old and they're lame," sings Cohen on Leaving the Table, another clear reference to expiration ("I'm leaving the table / I'm out of the game").
This song’s lazy, Americana twang might recall latter-day Dylan, the wordsmith Cohen is most often compared with. Arguably, Cohen has a greater right to the Nobel – he started as a writer, only turning to music in his 30s to widen his audience, and has published numerous books of poetry, and two novels.
As with all his work, You Want It Darker's music plays second fiddle, little more than framing devices for Cohen's verse. This muted canvas makes subtle, empathetic shifts, the title track's cold, hymnal solemnity balanced by the lumpen soft rock of On the Level and the acoustic Mediterranean lilt of Travelling Light.
Despite its slight runtime, one emerges from these 36 minutes of music with a sense of coming up for air – the pleasures here are strictly cerebral.
"I'm angry and I'm tired all the time," moans Cohen on Treaty, a confession directed either at a lost lover or the almighty himself, which also closes the record – and perhaps Cohen's recorded oeuvre – in a stark, string-led reprise.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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