Ten New Songs (2001)

A NEW MAN A changed Cohen returns after a long sabbatical

Rejoining society after a lengthy monastery retreat, Cohen seems a changed man: less bitter and caustic, more Zen and rueful. But thanks to Sharon Robinson, who sets Cohen's charmingly hoarse whisper to cozy electronic pop, he's never sounded more sensuous. His first new album in nearly a decade, Ten New Songs, has a powerful, hushed intimacy, culminating in ''The Land of Plenty,'' an exquisite call to national and personal rebirth. And in case anyone wondered if the 67-year-old had lost his sexual mojo, ''In My Secret Life,'' a pop-R&B hymn to unfulfilled yearning, puts an end to that question.