Lembe Lokk
Traveling Light
With r Traveling Light _, the trio Secret Chords continues its unique and captivating exploration of Leonard Cohen's work. Through vocals, bass, and clarinets, they reinvigorate ten songs with precision and sincerity, transforming them into searing confessions, battered prayers, and flashes of dark humor. Far from a static tribute, Lembe Lokk, Frannois Puyalto, and Michel Schick offer a stripped-down, organic, and free-flowing journey through Cohen's repertoire. Here, song meets jazz, poetry, and folk in a stripped-down form, where every silence counts just as much as every note. It would be an understatement to say that we are captivated from the very first seconds of the opening track, r Lover Lover Lover _, by the serene power of the voice, the precision of the arrangements which highlight Leonard Cohen's irony (r C'est la guerre _, r A Singer Must Die _), his lyricism (r Famous Blue Raincoat _), and his commitment (r The Partisan _). The French translations of some of the songs are both surprising and perfectly executed. r Traveling Light _ is a mature album: truly accomplished, rich, surprising, and perfectly realized.