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Sep 20, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Kezban Özcan Leonard Cohen

Legendary singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen passed away in November 2016. Now a new posthumous Leonard Cohen album has been announced, Thanks for the Dance, and its first single, “The Goal,” has been shared. Cohen’s son, Adam Cohen, put together Thanks for the Dance, using previously unreleased vocals/lyrics by Leonard and new instrumentation recorded for the album by Adam and a team of notable contributors. Thanks for the Dance is due out November 22 via Sony Music. Listen to “The Goal” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art.

Just a few weeks before Leonard Cohen’s death he released his last album, his 14th, You Want It Darker, which was produced by his son Adam. There remained material from that album, “bare musical sketches” as a press release puts it, sometimes just vocals, that Adam used to make Thanks for the Dance. Before his death Leonard had asked his son to embark on the project.

The album was recorded in various locations and features a slew of special guests. Damien Rice, Leslie Feist, and Jennifer Warnes all contributed vocals. Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire played bass, Bryce Dessner of The National played guitar, and the composer Dustin O’Halloran played piano. Javier Mas, who had previously been in Leonard Cohen’s touring band, played Leonard’s own guitar on the album. The Berlin-based choir Cantus Domus and the s t a r g a z e orchestra contributed, as did The Shaar Hashomayim choir. Patrick Watson co-produced a song. Daniel Lanois “dropped in, beautifully enriching sparse arrangements.” Michael Chaves, who recorded and mixed You Want It Darker, did the engineering and mixing. And finally, Beck played guitar and Jew’s harp.

Adam Cohen had this to say about the album in a press release: “In composing and arranging the music for his words, we chose his most characteristic musical signatures, in this way keeping him with us. What moves me most about the album is the startled response of those who have heard it. ‘Leonard lives’! they say, one after the other.”

Thanks for the Dance Tracklist:

01 Happens to the Heart
02 Moving On
03 The Night of Santiago
04 Thanks for the Dance
05 It’s Torn
06 The Goal
07 Puppets
08 The Hills
09 Listen to the Hummingbird

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