Getting to like Arrows Of Love more and more with every encounter, the London band have just shared their rather beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat. We don’t really need to say anything, just enjoy the song…

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Here;s some of the press release….

“London art-rockers Arrows Of Love have shared frontman Nima Teranchi’s poignant cover of ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ by Leonard Cohen. Lifelong fans of the man’s work, the band takes a rare step out from their righteously chaotic sound to pay gentle homage to what they consider “the greatest poet of our lifetime”.

Nima tells us “On the night of his death I got a message from a friend I hadn’t seen for years, which simply said; “One of my strongest mental images of you is you on your bed on the floor reading a book of Leonard Cohen poetry… by the way…”What can one say about Leonard Cohen? How can one word say anything that isn’t already described better by the wordless sensation in the hearts of the many who loved him? To say he was one of the greatest poets of our lifetime, which would be a great accolade for some, is not enough. As true as it is.  To talk about how he could paint whole chapters with eight or nine words, and even take you to the point of experiencing years of someone else’s life across a few sentences…feels trite. And I think that’s because with Leonard Cohen’s death, which comes at a time where we are surrounded by such depravity, it is hard to shift the sensation that this is not just the death of a great man, but the death of an Age; An age of beauty, of hope and humanity, which we will not see the like of again.

When we mourn for Leonard Cohen we are, in part, mourning for ourselves. His words breached the gap between song and listener to transmit that humanity into us, and his bold truths held a mirror up, to the ugliness of the ones like us, in a way that helped us see, understand and accept our beauty. He has connected us, across ages, genders, and nations; in a way that no politician, army, or ideology ever could. And in his death, he has connected us one last time. As word spread of his passing, i noticed the sensation in my own heart, and, for a moment, could almost see the web of hearts across our globe, dripping with that same sensation. It is a fitting poetry, like the last great work of a man whose timing was always part of his power, that even in his death, which comes when we are so engulfed by fragmentation, fear, and anger, he has managed once again to remind us how to feel something pure, human.”

There’s more recent Arrows of Love Organ coverage here

Arrows Of Love (photo: Jamie Morrison)