LP - Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

1 Lp

Rolling Stone - 4 Stars

On his signature classic, “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen sang about meeting “the Lord of Song.” But on the title track of his new LP, the third in a late-game rally that’s been as startlingly brilliant as Bob Dylan’s, Cohen takes that imagined reckoning with the Almighty deeper, intoning “Hineni,” a Hebrew term for addressing God that translates as “Here I am.” The punchline, aside from the title’s cheeky challenge – true Cohen fans always want it darker – is that with his cantorial delivery, the famous lady’s man makes the phrase sound kinda like “hey, baby.” In fact, an unlikely EDM remix of “You Want It Darker,” by DJ Paul Kalkbrenner, turns the phrase into a dance-floor chant – more proof of how much modern lifeblood still flows through Cohen’s voice after five decades on the job.