Perla Batalla Honors Mentor Leonard Cohen With New Album

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Perla Batalla, whose powerful voice, emotional honesty, and boundary-defying songs have captivated audiences at prestigious venues around the world, digitally released her eighth full-length album, A Letter to Leonard Cohen: A Tribute to a Friend via Symphonic, a day prior to what would have been Cohen’s 90th birthday.  The physical release is confirmed for November 22 for all online and offline retailers.

Batalla was Cohen’s collaborator and friend for more than two decades. Cohen was a revered, Montreal-born, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well as invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor. An icon in his native land and around the globe, he is considered the poet laureate of Canada.

“My mission is to keep Leonard Cohen’s music alive, and I don’t choose the Leonard Cohen songs I sing; they choose me,” said Batalla. “A lifetime ago, when Leo and I were just getting to know each other, he said he recognized in me a beautiful sadness. Those words from him were an invitation to live in gentle acknowledgement of all the things that make up who I am, including the darkness. Even after Leonard’s death I still feel a deep responsibility to convey his words as honestly as possible. Long before he passed, Leonard once asked me if I might continue to sing his songs after he was gone.  My response, ‘Try to stop me.’”

What immediately sets this new album apart from other Cohen tributes is that Perla’s early career was guided by Cohen, who personally encouraged her journey as an artist. After singing with him for so many years, she brings a truly unique perspective to the Cohen canon, with the new album offering fresh interpretations of eight classic songs. It also includes two Batalla originals – Awakened and The L of Your First Name – and her stirring rendition of The Partisan, a poignant 1943 anti-fascist song of the French Resistance.

Batalla embarked on this current recording project in Barcelona in early 2020, just before the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. When the world reopened, she returned to Spain, only to discover that the project hard drives had vanished. Undeterred, she returned to her home in Ojai, California, and — fueled by her remaining savings and big-hearted contributions from friends and fans — returned to the studio to start the recording project anew, this time including two of her original compositions, both inspired by her late beloved friend.

Re-tracking in Barcelona, New York, Ojai, and Santa Monica, Batalla’s diverse sonic palette blends her magnificent voice with the splendid ferocity of flamenco musicians, a moving gospel choir, a plaintive oud, and a live string section. In a bit of good fortune, Broadway great Patrick Page (Hadestown, All the Devils are Here, Gilded Age) 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-winning producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake, Encanto) produced the chilling track.