Click above to listen to the full album
The 1980’s had been a time of new wave
music where the traditional disco was being recreated and dance-pop was
becoming popular. These being the primary genres of the time, it’s obvious that
audiences were in the mood for exciting music that made them move. However,
what audiences wanted and what Leonard Cohen released in 1984 differed greatly.
Various Positions was Cohen’s eighth
album that he released. For this album, he opted to go against what was popular
in music and instead decided to create and album that is moody and coarse.
Instead of songs that are happy and go-lucky, he created an album that’s mood
can be summed up by his song “Hallelujah”. The track begins with a synthesized
piano that leads to the harsh and grainy voice that is Leonard Cohen. The song
begins slow and drags on as Cohen lags on his verses. However, the introduction
of numerous background vocals for the chorus create a holy and heavenly feeling
as they basically save the song from collapse. The chorus continues to become
more prevalent in the song until the song reaches a climax and it is nothing
but the chorus being sung. Despite the gruff, and in my opinion distracting,
voice of Cohen, the melodies and background vocals are the savior of this track
and work together with his voice to create a feeling of unpolished beauty for
the song and album as a whole.
Despite how famous Cohen became because
of his music, he claims that he never had the intention of becoming a musician.
The story goes that in middle school he had a crush on a girl and decided that
the best way to woo her was to serenade her with the guitar. Not knowing how to
play the guitar was only a small bump in the road for him since it took him
essentially no time to learn the basics. After realizing his talent, Cohen then
created his own band called the Buckskin Boys that helped him make a few bucks
while he was in college.
Besides being a musician in college,
Cohen also managed to become a published poet with his collection Let Us Compare
Mythologies. Shortly after his graduation, he then shipped off to the island
Hydra where he hoped he’d be able to find adventure and time to write. The
drugs and ridiculous amounts of drinking that took place on Hydra must have
done good for his soul because he returned years later more skillful and
eloquent with words than before.
Cohen’s skills with words allowed for him
to become an excellent lyricist; a skill which was then used to create songs
like “Night Comes On” on the album.
Now I look for her always, I’m lost in
this calling
I’m tied to the threads of some prayer
Saying when will she summon me, when
will she come to me
What must I do to prepare?
These lyrics create a narrative of a
person craving death in order to be reunited with their loved one. The story
that is told here is without a doubt depressing, but to mix these lyrics with
Cohen’s voice makes the song only especially dreary. However, the poeticism of
the verse, and all other lyrics on the album, combined with the beautiful piano
melodies creates a song that comes off as raw and emotional; this being the
reason I believe that his songs were so greatly admired.
Synthesizers had become a valuable tool
in creating music since the early 60’s; however, Cohen had waited until this
album to introduce it into his music. With the use of a synthesizer, he had
found a way to make his music modern while still being distinctive for the
time.
The incorporation of the synthesizer in
Various Positions created tracks that stood out from others because of their
significantly more upbeat tunes. An example of a happier song on the album is
“Dance Me to the End of Love”. The
synthesized piano and a flute open the song and manage to create an extremely
cheerful melody that carries on throughout the entire song. The background
vocalists give the song another layer of happiness with their repetitive melody
of “la”. These instrumentals combined with the background vocals create a
ridiculously cheerful tune that even Cohen’s somber voice cannot bring down: an
occurrence that happens only twice on the album.
Despite not being my cup of tea, Leonard
Cohen’s trademarks are his raspy voice and emotional lyrics. In Various Positions,
Cohen simply played off these qualities, by keeping with the moodiness in each
track while incorporating upbeat tunes and new elements like the synthesized
piano. Together, these arguably created Cohen’s most emotional and culminating
album that has managed to stand the test of time and remain in the hearts of
many to this day.
R.I.P Leonard Cohen
No comments:
Post a Comment