Orit Shimoni - ‘Playing Chelsea Hotel’
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:52 am
Nomadic singer-songwriter Orit Shimoni shows her softer, sadder side on new album
Mike Bell • Calgary Herald / Publishing date: Nov 24, 2016
https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment ... -new-album
One of the highlights of Soft Like Snow is the newer song Playing Chelsea Hotel, which, due to the recent passing of Leonard Cohen, is as “timely” as it is touching.
Shimoni, still affected by his death, admits that the legend made his mark on her and her art after she’d already started on her songwriting journey, the Little Birdie of her early 20s.
“There was an elevation of how much more mystical writing can be than just straight folk writing,” she says, pointing to her appreciation of the craftsmanship of other artists as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Townes Van Zandt and Joni Mitchell.
“It was just another level of creating that I didn’t know was really possible until I came across his work, that a song could resonate on a number of levels.
“I used to have an argument with the person who really pushed Leonard Cohen on me. I always thought they were love songs and he always thought they were devotional religious songs.
“And it was this ongoing debate until I realized we were both right. If you can take the text and it can mean something concrete from start to finish and mean something absolutely else from start to finish then it’s a masterpiece …
“That’s what you aspire to if you’re a songwriter.”