Perla Batalla - A Letter to Leonard Cohen (2024) [Hi-Res]

Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Perla Batalla has been bringing Leonard Cohen's timeless songs to life for over a decade, and the singer’s newest release demonstrates why she is one of the Canadian poet laureate's most sought-after interpreters worldwide. On A Letter to Leonard Cohen, Perla celebrates Cohen's art legacy with an elegant intersection of deeply personal tribute and fearless originality.

What immediately sets this project apart from other Cohen tributes is that Perla's early career was guided by Cohen, who personally encouraged her journey as an artist. After touring and recording with Cohen for more than a decade, she brings her own unique perspective to Cohen's canon.

This is a highly anticipated follow-up to Perla’s first Cohen tribute, Bird on the Wire, and is a testament to resilience and creative passion.

Perla embarked on this musical journey in Barcelona in early 2020, just before the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. When the world reopened, she returned to Spain to discover that the project hard drives had vanished. Undeterred, she returned to her home in Ojai, California, and fuelled by the remaining savings and bighearted contributions from friends and fans, she returned to the studio to start the recording project anew; this time including two of her own compositions inspired by Cohen.

Re-tracking in Barcelona, New York, Ojai, and Santa Monica, Perla's diverse sonic palette blends her magnificent voice with the ferocity of flamenco musicians, a moving gospel choir, string quartet and, in a bit of fortune, Broadway great Patrick Page (Hadestown, All the Devils are Here) made himself available to perform alongside her on Cohen's "Democracy", an all too timely ode to the fragility of the American experiment. Multi-Grammy Award winning producer, Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Dr. Dre, Encanto) produced the chilling track.

A Letter to Leonard Cohen is a tribute also to Perla's dear friend, the legendary music producer Hal Willner who died early in the pandemic. Willner was infamous for his groundbreaking productions assembling unlikely casts to collaborate freely; deliberately obliterating the lines between genres and styles. Perla credits Hal's methods around artistic collaboration as a major influence on her own approach to creativity.

A Letter to Leonard Cohen is dedicated to Willner's memory, and appropriately, the album is released on September 20, 2024, on what would have been Cohen's 90th birthday. As Hal Willner once told Perla, "Chaos and collaboration go hand in hand." In this impressive endeavor, Perla's collaborative soul shines brightly through the beautiful chaos.