LLOYD COLE

Since the instant success of his 1984 debut Rattlesnakes with his first band The Commotions, Lloyd Cole has continued to reinvent his career chapter after chapter. Born in Buxton, England, the songwriter formed the band while at Glasgow University, which he eventually left in pursuit of his glittering highly articulate music in the 1980s post-punk landscape. After two more albums and much touring, Cole moved to New York and released the first of many solo records, all with a healthy spirit of reinvention. The late 90’s found Cole pulled in multiple directions, which resulted in the formation of a new band, The Negatives, including Commotions guitarist Neil Clark and songwriter Jill Sobule among others. With this new outfit, Cole expanded his oeuvre, featuring many guest collaborations on The Negatives self-titled debut (2000), as well as incorporating many covers into their touring repertoire. Undoubtedly, this would not only serve to broaden their palette, but also reflected back onto the strength of Cole’s own songs. Ever in many directions, Cole released two additional albums in 2001: the final incarnation of a long-awaited 1996 solo album etc as well as an album of instrumental synthesizer music Plastic and Wood, somehow alongside all of the touring. Since then, Cole has continued to expand his format: touring constantly, making albums of various stripe including live concert recordings, reuniting with the Commotions for a 20th anniversary tour & re-release, as well as releasing archival collections of earlier heard & unheard music. A highlight among them, Cole dug into the realm of modular synthesizers for an instrumental collaboration with Austrian musician Hans Joachim Roedelius, who created an unsolicited remix of Plastic and Wood back in 2002. Their duo record Selected Studies came out in 2013 to resounding acclaim. His most recent original work, Standards, finds Cole continuing his exploration of the vocal song form, which The Independent, No Depression, American Songwriter have unanimously praised as his best work yet.

As well, UMG has reissued Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Collected Recordings 1983 -1989 and Lloyd Cole in New York 1988 - 1996, and Bureau B has released a collection of Cole's unheard solo electronic experiments from the making Selected Studies called 1D - Electronics 2012-2014. Lloyd Cole released a new album, ‘On Pain’, on 23rd June ’23 on the earMUSIC label. ‘On Pain’ is Lloyd’s twelfth album as a solo artist and features eight new Lloyd Cole songs, four of which are co-written by Commotions founding members Blair Cowan and Neil Clark, who also perform on the record. The album is produced by Chris Merrick Hughes and was recorded in Lloyd’s attic studio The Establishment.