Ten New Songs

Ten New Songs, Cohen's tenth studio album, was his first in nine years. Sharon Robinson co-wrote, produced, arranged and sang on it, building the music around lyrics Cohen gave her, and Cohen insisted that she sing all the songs with him. They recorded in near isolation in their home studios in Los Angeles, and it was his first album recorded entirely digitally. Bob Metzger added guitar to the first single, In My Secret Life, and David Campbell wrote the string arrangement on A Thousand Kisses Deep. Alexandra Leaving is based on the Cavafy poem The God Abandons Antony.

Cohen told Mojo that he went to Mt. Baldy without looking for a new religion. The video for In My Secret Life was filmed at Habitat 67 in Montreal. The album reached number 143 on the Billboard 200, number 4 in Canada, where it went platinum, and number 1 in Poland and Norway. It won four Junos in 2002. Uncut thought it worth the wait.