Born on January 31: Lloyd Cole, the intellectual singer, poet and philosopher
He was born in 1961 in the small town of Buxton, not far from Derby, England. A lover of literature, he has always considered music the ideal vehicle for his melancholic lyrics.
As a teenager, Lloyd Cole spent more time in libraries than in smoke-filled pubs. He first studied law in London, then philosophy at Glasgow University. There he met Blair Cowan, a keyboardist with whom he still collaborates today. It's likely, however, that their first conversations were about the comparative merits of Plato and Kant (if such an exercise is possible) rather than the stylistic qualities of John Lennon versus those of Andy Partridge (XTC)...
At the age of 23, in 1984, he recorded the Commotions' first album, and was already light years ahead of the synthetic pop then popular in the English charts. "Rattlesnakes”, a little jewel of intello pop goldsmithery, succeeds in seducing a wide audience with tracks such as ‘Perfect Skin’, ‘Charlotte Street’, ‘Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken’ and, of course, ‘Forest Fire’, a timeless crescendo of an anthology that hasn't aged a day.
With his fragile voice and distinctive range, and his musical inspiration that is very much the opposite of easy, Lloyd Cole was seen as something of a Martian in the music business. Having met him on several occasions between 1984 and 1987, I can confirm his shy, introverted character. He often said that everything was in his songs, and that it was difficult for him to dissect and analyze them. On the other hand, he was inexhaustible about some of his literary favorites, such as Joan Didion. “Rattlesnakes” (1984), ‘Easy Pieces’ (1985) and ‘Mainstream’ (1987) all left their mark on English music history.
With the exception of an ephemeral reformation of the Commotions in 2004 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “Rattlesnakes”, Lloyd Cole pursues a solo career that tirelessly continues to explore the same themes, in words always precisely chosen. Sometimes subtly acoustic, sometimes more opulent, throughout a discography of some fifteen studio albums, his music sometimes approaches unexpected shores, but the singer always draws his inspiration from the scratches of life. Album titles such as “Bad Vibes” (1993), “Antidepressant” (2003) and the recent, touching “On Pain” (2023) seem to stick with him.
(MH with AK - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Lloyd Cole on stage at the Torhout Festival (Belgium) in July 1985.