Hear ‘Happens to the Heart,’ from the New Posthumous Leonard Cohen Album ‘Thanks for the Dance’ Out Nov. 22

Leonard Cohen passed in 2016 at the age of 82, but the massively influential and iconic singer/poet/novelist has a new album coming out posthumously on Nov. 22.

Here’s a song titled “Happens to the Heart,” which premiered via Cohen’s social media pages on Thursday.

Titled Thanks for the Dance, the album bills itself as “not a commemorative collection of B sides and outtakes,” but rather an “unexpected harvest” of songs brought to life by Cohen’s son, Adam Cohen:

Seven months after his father passed, Adam Cohen retreated to a converted garage in his backyard down the street from Leonard’s house, to work with his father again, to stay in the company of his voice. From their previous collaboration on ‘You Want It Darker’ there remained bare musical sketches, at times little more than vocals. Leonard had asked his son to bring these works to completion.

This remarkable new album was made in many places. Javier Mas, the great Spanish laud player who accompanied Leonard on stage for the last eight years of touring, flew from Barcelona to Los Angeles to capture the artist’s spirit on Leonard’s own guitar. In Berlin, at a musical event called People Festival, Adam invited friends and comrades to lend their ears and talents. Damien Rice and Leslie Feist sang. Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire played bass. Bryce Dessner of The National played guitar, the composer Dustin O’Halloran played piano. The Berlin-based choir Cantus Domus sang, and the s t a r g a z e orchestra played. In Montrealthe famed producer Daniel Lanois dropped in, beautifully enriching sparse arrangements. The Shaar Hashomayim choir, who played such important part of the sound of the last album, contributed to a song, and Patrick Watson brought his inimitable talent as co-producer to a song. Back in Los Angeles Jennifer Warnes, one of the keepers of Leonard’s flame, sang background vocals, and Beck contributed on guitar and Jew’s harp. Michael Chaves, who elegantly recorded and mixed ‘You Want It Darker’, did the engineering and mixing.

The album’s track listing:

“Happens to the Heart”
“Moving On”
“The Night of Santiago”
“Thanks for the Dance”
“It’s Torn”
“The Goal”
“Puppets”
“The Hills”
“Listen to the Hummingbird”