Lloyd Cole
Union Chapel, London
twenty first October 2023

Tom Parry finds listening to Lloyd Cole within the near-perfect acoustics of the Union Chapel builds a seamless bridge again to his data within the late Nineteen Eighties. But on his newest tour with two of his long-time musical companions, the once-tousled troubadour just isn’t content material to solely dwell on his illustrious previous.

Lloyd Cole strides gracefully onto the minimalist stage on the entrance of the gorgeous Union Chapel clad in a white shirt and cream chinos. It’s a stark, unforgiving look, one which fits the setting, with the mic stand positioned simply in entrance of the preacher’s pulpit and the flower-shaped stained-glass window.

His hair is gray now, and the sultry stare which stole 1000’s of hearts from behind a foppish fringe within the late 80s has flattened out with age. However as soon as Lloyd begins singing, there is no such thing as a mistaking the voice, which has retained all of its dreamy poignancy.

He performs the primary tune, Don’t Look Again, from his 1989 first solo album, by himself, with solely an acoustic guitar, and on this distinctive venue, each phrase rings true. The ultimate line, ‘Life appears endless whenever you’re younger’ is filled with much more depth when sung wistfully by a person in his early 60s. There is no such thing as a crack within the supply, no shortcuts to disguise the harder-to-reach increased notes.

The band members arrive one after the other. Lengthy-term guitarist and collaborator Neil Clark accompanies him for the second quantity, the Commotions tune Mr Malcontent, after which one other member of the unique group, keyboardist Blair Cowan arrives stage-right.

Signy Jakobsdottir is excellent on drums and percussion, typically tastefully minimalist within the background and at different instances, particularly throughout the second-half electrical set, rather more fiery on the equipment, which appears awkwardly wedged into a spot the place a vicar could be stood in a Sunday service.

There are numerous excessive factors in a well-judged set, which manages to often nip again to the highlights of the Commotions heyday with out being purely nostalgic. A lot of the fabric is from Lloyd’s more moderen solo albums, together with three from his just lately launched document On Ache.

Surprisingly for an artist who was as soon as portrayed as being a bookish mental, Lloyd Cole today is witty and self-deprecating in his occasional feedback between songs. Referring to the more moderen output, he feedback that it may be picked out by the digital affect and that the songs go on longer than you’ll suppose, an acknowledgement that some folks within the viewers may solely need the Commotions stuff. And after ‘Undressed’ he jokes that references to being bare relate to him as he was in 1989 somewhat than him as he’s now.

Dividing the set into two means allows Lloyd to come back again on bass guitar for a number of the latter numbers, so they’re way more punchy, with the 4 glorious musicians having extra scope to specific themselves. Guitarist Clark’s taking part in is commonly spine-tingling. The band may be very well-drilled, a number of weeks into the present tour.

However most memorable of all is the voice, nonetheless wealthy, heat, velvety and – like placing on a favorite jacket from a few years in the past – cosy and comforting. 

The one downside of the gig going down in Union Chapel was that nobody stood up within the wood pews till the top. At instances it was so enjoyable sitting down that it was nearly soporific. However as everybody may hear completely there was no distortion and no disturbance, which made for a fascinating night.

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All phrases by Tom Parry, you could find his writer’s archive right here plus on Twitter and his web site

For extra on Lloyd Cole and his newest album take a look at his web site right here

Photograph of Lloyd Cole and band by David Wingate