Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Leonard Cohen Covers: Who by Fire

 
 


Your moderator, Darius, and I appear to have similar tastes: I really do not care much for Leonard Cohen. I have the utmost respect for him as an artist/songwriter, but, despite my “better half’s” quarter century efforts, I can’t get into his stuff. I find his music too soft and dark. Funny: Tom Waits is dark, but I like his music. And I have nothing against “soft” per se. But Cohen … sorry. Adding insult to injury, for the last few years, the man has decided to add Istanbul to his regular tour itinerary, so I face a yearly request to purchase tickets to a show I don’t care to see.

In fact, considering my aversion, I had resolved to sit this week out. But then, I couldn’t. Hope you’re glad I didn’t.

What I found is a version of “Who by Fire” from musicians that I cannot locate a lot of information about. Schonwald have an online presence at various music-related sites, but there is a paucity of personal detail. They appear to have been making music for several years (albums dating back to 2006 at least) and their online work includes YouTube videos that include a version of this song. But as for details about who, what and where …. virtually nothing. So, once again, here is your chance to show me up: let us know in the comments what you know about these musicians. The YouTube clips depict them as a M/F combo who primarily focus on studio work.

Part of what pushed me to go ahead with a Cohen post is the “drive” behind this version. Whereas Cohen takes it relatively easy in his renditions, these folks veer towards the harder side – edgier and, as a result,  much more to my liking.