Canadian songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, 77, announced the upcoming release of a new album, Old Ideas, on January 31, 2012.
The album’s ten songs “poetically address some of the most profound quandaries of human existence – the relationship to a transcendent being, love, sexuality, loss and death,” according to a statement from the singer. His website is currently streaming the track, Show Me the Place.
Although recording for his twelfth studio album began in January 2011, the singer said much of the new music and lyrics have been percolating for years. Early versions of two album tracks, Amen and Lullaby were originally recorded in 2007.
Produced with Patrick Leonard, Anjani Thomas, Ed Sanders and Dino Soldo, and complementing Cohen’s baritone additional vocalists include Dana Glover, Sharon Robinson, The Webb Sisters (Hattie and Charley Webb) and Jennifer Warnes. The album’s cover design and drawings were also done by Cohen.