Lloyd Cole

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With the overwhelming superlatives frequently used to describe Lloyd Cole’s music, we don’t blame you if you immediately categorise this artist as some overhyped new kid on the block. Cole has actually been in the music business since the early ’80s, fronting the indie band Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, who attracted a faithful university-student following with their jangly, sensible pop aesthetic.

After they split in 1989, Cole went on to pursue a solo career and distinguished himself among a vast ocean of British indie hopefuls with his intensely allusive songwriting style (sometimes described as pretentious), often including lyrical nods to literary icons Normal Mailer, Raymond Carver, Truman Capote and introverted essayist Joan Didion – not exactly comparable to the stuff we get from contemporary singer-songwriters.

On the musical side, Cole has generally stayed on an acoustic-meets-power pop direction and maintained a low profile despite having worked with influential musicians like Matthew Sweet, Jill Sobule and ex-Voidoid Robert Quine; the latter was once in the influential proto-punk band Richard Hell & The Voidoids, beloved of music critic Lester Bangs and considered one of the finest guitarists of all time.

Never one to shy away from experimentation, Cole is also known to perform some of his songs as spokenword pieces, adding fuel to the fire for critics of his over-intellectualised style – not everyone can keep a straight face while listening to someone namecheck Simone de Beauvoir and Eva Marie Saint, who played the elusive Eve Kendall in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (we totally expected you to know that). But if you get all sweaty at the thought of all this elite cultural capital being flung around the Recital Studio, what are you waiting for?

By Alexis Ong