LLOYD COLE
KING OF PAIN
MORE CLOSELY INVOLVED WITH HIS FANS THAN EVER BEFORE AFTER NEARLY LOSING HIS HOUSE IN LOCKDOWN, LLOYD COLE HAS EMERGED WITH ON PAIN– A STUNNING ALBUM NEARER TO TALK TALK THAN THE COMMOTIONS, DESPITE HIS OLD BANDMATES’ INPUT. LLOYD TELLS CLASSIC POP HOW HE’S MORE COMPOSER THAN SONGWRITER NOW – AND HOW HIS SON’S SAVAGERY SAVED THE ALBUM FROM ENDING UP LIKE BAD MACCA...
JOHN EARLS
No pain no gain: “I’m excited to still be finding new methods, new perspectives, new sounds,” says Lloyd Cole
© Mark Dellas
Lloyd Cole joins Classic Popon FaceTime from his home studio in Massachusetts to discuss his new album On Pain– a suitably sardonic title from the acclaimed singer-songwriter. Matters were nearly very different for Cole’s 13th solo album, though.
The record was fi nished last October, but it wasn’t until the mixing stages that the title arrived, thanks to a visit from Lloyd’s son William. “The album was initially called ‘Pain And The Untrained Heart’, after a song that got merged into what’s now the title track,” reveals Cole. “Then my son came over and told me: ‘That sounds like a bad Paul McCartney album title.’ I was like: ‘OK, thanks for that...’
“What became the title track was then still called ‘I Can’t Be Trusted’, which I already knew wasn’t a good song title. I realised they should both be called On Pain. When I announced that, everyone involved in the album went: ‘That’s much better.’ I thought:
‘Why didn’t you speak up before?’”
Lloyd is grateful for William giving On Paina much better title, but laughs: “My son is brutally honest about my music. On the new album, he still won’t listen to I Can Hear Everything: ‘Rubbish’.”
It’s a typically self-effacing story from an artist who takes his music seriously, himself much less so. He’s entertaining in describing how songwriting comes to him slowly these days, but On Painis only four years after previous album Guessworkfi rst successfully merged synths into his output.
The new album could have arrived even quicker. Lloyd Cole isn’t unique among musicians in being fi nancially stricken by lockdown, and he’s honest in admitting: “There was no income once lockdown arrived. I realised there was a good chance that I’d lose my house if I didn’t fi gure something out. There was only so long I could survive, so I started a Patreon subscription – and it took over my life for a while.”