Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen (photo by Kezban Özcan)

new Leonard Cohen song "Happens to the Heart" shared from posthumous album

There’s a new, posthumous Leonard Cohen album, Thanks for the Dance, that will be out November 22 via Columbia. Cohen’s son Adam took song sketches his father had written or recorded, and fleshed them out, inviting a whole host of other artists to contribute, including Beck, Feist, the National’s Bryce Dessner, Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, Damien Rice, Daniel Lanois, s t a r g a z e, and others. “In composing and arranging the music for his words, we chose his most characteristic musical signatures, in this way keeping him with us,” Leonard’s son Adam said in a statement. “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.” You can preorder now.

They’ve just shared a second track from the album — “Happens to the Heart,” which is the kind of gorgeous, folk noir song that is Cohen’s signature. It comes with a video, produced by Nowness and directed by Sia collaborator Daniel Askill. “I wanted to make something that spoke to Leonard’s years as a zen monk,” Askil tells Nowness who are making official videos for every song on the album. “This film is a quiet, symbolic narrative that charts the letting go of ego and the trappings of fame.” It’s a beautiful video and you can watch that below.

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