During the 9 years prior to the release of Ten New Songs (2001) the legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen spent most of his time in a Zen monastery, obsessively rewriting and polishing the lyrics for this austere collection.
Ten New Songs is arguably Sharon Robinson's record as much as Cohen's as she co-wrote all the songs, plays most of the instruments and accompanies Cohen's gloomy croak with her own crooning.This is the most subdued album Cohen's ever made.
It's as if he no longer has time for anything in music or performance that could alter the meaning and force of his words. Various artists have covered Cohen's songs off this album; Eric Burdon and Katie Melua both covered "My Secret Life" for their own albums, Jonathan Richman covered "Here It Is".