From the lissom muses of "Suzanne" and the "Sisters of Mercy"
that inhabited the sombre netherworld of his early recordings to more recent
studio operatives such as Leanne Ungar and Sharon Robinson, Leonard Cohen's
art has always been reliant on the generosity of his "angels".
From the lissom muses of "Suzanne" and the "Sisters of Mercy" that inhabited
the sombre netherworld of his early recordings to more recent studio
operatives such as Leanne Ungar and Sharon Robinson, Leonard Cohen's art has
always been reliant on the generosity of his "angels". The most recent of
these is his protegée and co-writer Anjani Thomas, who delivers Blue Alert's
10 songs in a sensuous style that blends the cocktail-jazz croonery of Norah
Jones and Katie Melua with the torch-song technique of Julie London, her
smoky vocals lounging languidly over sparse arrangements of piano, organ and
vibes as she muses on the mysteries of love. Cohen's presence is discernible
in the painstaking craft of lines such as "Visions of her drawing near/
Arise, abide, and disappear", and in perennial Cohen romantic metaphors like
"Thanks For The Dance", whose wistful clarinet and wee-small-hours
arrangement help celebrate fading pleasures with the bittersweet sting
appropriate for such a collusion of Svengali and Trilby: "Thanks for the
dance/ And the baby I carried/ It was almost a daughter or son".
DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Blue Alert', 'Half the Perfect World', 'No One After You'
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