Popular Problems
The Canadian poet and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen teamed up with producer Patrick Leonard, a man who’s previously handled the more limber rhythms of Madonna. Together, they made a soothing yet adventurous album: Cohen’s 13th studio release, *Popular Problems*. “Nevermind” coasts on a pulsing synth-led beat while the expected female vocal choir unexpectedly turns to an Arabic chant for peace (“salaam”). “My Oh My” adds a touch of horns. But while this expands the musical portion of Cohen’s efforts, the focus here is still on his rumbling voice (which sounds like he’s met Moses) and his lyrics (which never settle for passable when transcendent is still within reach). Cohen claims “Born in Chains” took 40 years to get right. On the opening track, Cohen turns the joke on himself. “Slow,” he admits, is how he likes most things, as if his fans hadn’t noticed. Getting it right is more important than rushing to keep pace. “A Street” turns its attention to 9/11 with a poignancy that resonates 13 years after that horrible day, with a lingering ache guiding Cohen’s continued eloquence and honesty.
Popular Problems is Cohen's second album in the past two years. As with 2012's Old Ideas, its best songs feel naked and hymn-like but are restrained by an underlying mystery—he sounds like he's telling you everything but he never actually tips his hand. The flat airhorn of a voice he used throughout the '70s has become eerily bottomless, the husk of another voice now gone.
“I always liked it slow / Slow is in my blood,” a rasping Leonard Cohen claims at the start of his 13th album, Popular Problems. That’s true—one number, “Born In Chains,” took a reported 40 years’ worth of revisions to get right—though in fact the Canadian songwriter is speeding up in his 80th year. Popular Problems…
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that there are no second acts in American life, but obviously that dictum doesn't hold much weight for people who come from north of the 49th parallel judging by the phenomenal third act that Leonard Cohen is currently experiencing.
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Leonard Cohen has the last laugh on his fine 13th album, writes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
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As he nears 80, Leonard Cohen continues to shine, miraculously. Review by Mark Kidel