I’d been thinking that the reason so many people are covering Leonard Cohen songs these days has much less to do with the magical poetry of those lyrics, and more to do with the fact that someone with half a voice must reckon they stand a good chance of improving on the original.  Replace Cohen’s weary shrug and almost embarrassed hint at melody with some swooping melodrama, and you can’t help but improve on the original, can you?  Weeeeeeell, not so sure that is always the case, but I listened to Marissa Nadler’s “Famous Blue Raincoat” and thought I would be damned if that wasn’t better than Cohen’s.  So I went straight to Len’s version on the old magic music box, and lo, not only was it an improvement, but it sounded so different…so very different…even the words had changed…hang on a minute – ARE ALL MY LEONARD COHEN TRACKS TAGGED WRONGLY?  Apparently so.  “Last Year’s Man” was in fact masquerading as “Famous Blue”, which was itself luxuriating in the pseudonym “Chelsea Hotel No.2”.  When I eventually tracked down the recalcitrant track, I thought that I might might might just prefer the Nadler cover. 

 

Her voice wanders from a pure one similar to that of fellow Cohen-botherer Susanna towards the effortless breathy tones of the much-missed Hope Sandoval.  The album is black and white, from the cover to the stark and simple backgrounds, but the lyrics fleck it with the red of dresses, blood, painted lips, and of memories.  Probably my favourite singer-songwritery type release of 2007, if that helps anyone.

Listen to more tracks at her website and myspace; buy it from Boomkat