David Bowie's passing was a huge blow for most of us. But luckily we had his final release, Blackstar to ease us through the loss.
Now, with the passing of Leonard Cohen, we find ourselves assuaged with the same sadness and loss, but thankfully once again a legend was kind enough - while coming to grips with his own mortality, to leave us with his epitaph to give us our own catharsis.
You Want It Darker is rife with musings, analogies and metaphors for the end of life - so much so, that in the hands of a lesser artist, it would seem hacky and contrived, but not so with Mr. Cohen. When he sings "I'm leaving the table, I'm out of the game", you know he means it.
Everything we've ever come to love about the man's music is all represented right here. The cadence, the hushed tones, the female vocals, only delivered with more...finality - even talking about his relationships - as Cohen sings on "On The Level", the only song on the album co-written with long-time collaborator Sharon Robinson, "They oughta give my heart a medal for letting go of you, when I turned my back on the devil, turned my back on the angel too."
