Critics Rave About “Show Me The Place”

“Show Me The Place”…is absolutely gorgeous… It makes me want to hear Old Ideas very, very badly. — Stereogum

On the scale of thrills, this is off the charts. A new single by Leonard Cohen,… It’s just beautiful. Yes, a simple song and a sad song…but beautiful. Personally, it makes me really, really want to hear the rest of the album. — CBC Radio 2

A beautiful new track from Leonard Cohen’s forthcoming new album — Shambhala Sunspace

Gorgeous track — Spinner

“Show Me The Place”… is a nuanced, understated piece that bodes well for a contemplative new record. — GQ (UK)

“Show Me the Place” makes it apparent that the Canadian song-poet’s game is still as sharp as ever, as he rumbles out his reverie over simple piano and organ accompaniment. — MTV

All rise: The church of Leonard Cohen is back in session. The piano progression that introduces the Fedora Man’s new single feels holy… Show Me the Place is a restrained spiritual… It touches on themes of love, god and mortality – no doubt the type of tried-and true allusions to be found within Cohen’s forthcoming album… This is about devotion, in whatever form one needs to take it. On her own single, cool star singer Feist asks, “How come you never go there?” And Cohen? He so goes there, one more time. — Toronto Globe and Mail

Leonard Cohen records the kind of music that can stop you dead in your tracks. Case in point: his uber-tender, heartstrings-pulling new single, “Show Me the Place,”… And from the sound of “Show Me the Place,” Cohen’s kind of fooling himself with the title of Old Ideas because this song is just, well, great. — Prefix Magazine

The song, entitled Show Me The Place, is a mournful yarn few others could deliver the way Cohen does…listen to the shiver-inducing track — Vancouver Sun

Leonard Cohen is back with a song as haunting as “Hallelujah,” and it alone is enough to be thankful for this year. — Huffington Post

Those expecting music in the vein of the big band setup of his recent world-conquering tour might be surprised by this subtle track, led by piano and quiet strings, with the ever present backing singers adding texture to Cohen’s rich, fragile, magical voice. — The Quietus

Leonard Cohen previews new album with elegant song. — Hartford Courant

Here’s something to be thankful for: a new Leonard Cohen song! In advance of Old Ideas…comes the starkly lovely new single “Show Me the Place.” Over bittersweet violin, stately piano, and back-up-singer coos, Cohen…asks in a beautifully grave vocal performance, to be shown “the place where you want your slave to go.” A ghostly organ enters for a brief bridge, and the whole placid drama wraps up with the singer wanting to see “the place where the suffering began.” It’s not “Hallelujah,” but it’s not far off, and bodes well for the new disc. — Spin

If that voice doesn’t break your heart, you don’t have one. — Rabbit Hole Urban Music (Australia)

Our first taste of the LP has arrived with the very good “Show Me The Place”, a pensive four minute lullaby of longing. — Pretty Much Amazing

The song is fantastic—those somber piano chords, that understated string section? The bleak gospel-soaked electric organ? Sounds like classic Cohen to me. -– Ology

The organic sounds—to say nothing of the lyrics…hark back to the themes and the palette of his early work, with organic instruments (piano, strings, choir) replacing the synthesizers that have dominated his work since 1988’s I’m Your Man. No telling if the rest of the album will follow suit, but regardless, it’s an exciting development. –- MSN

Con una voz cada vez más grave, y con la capacidad de componer canciones tan bonitas como ‘Show Me The Place’…una delicia sonora dulce y sentida, rebosante de poética y emoción. Sin duda solo aviva las ganas que tenemos de escuchar un nuevo disco de Leonard Cohen. — Indiespot (Spain)

“Show Me The Place”…es una balada introspectiva (piano, violines, coro eclesiástico) definida principalmente por el impacto escalofriante de la narración signada por aquella gravedad vocal y la sensibilidad extrema de la retórica típica, esa que analiza la naturaleza de las aflicciones humanas, el amor y el odio, la necesidad de creer… No somos los mismos después de toparnos con cada muestra de la inconmensurable grandeza Leonard Cohen. Por eso acá no se dejará de hablar de él. Jamás. — Rolling Stone (Argentina)