Indie music legend Lloyd Cole continues to push musical boundaries more than four decades after his breakout with The Commotions.
Now 63-year-old there is no sense of standing still for the singer-songwriter who is embracing minimalism and electronica.
So much so he admits to being influenced by Detroit minimalist techno artist Plastikman, aka Ritchie Hawtin.
Primarily renowned for guitar based music Lloyd, who is set to headline The Tivoli Theatre in Aberdeen on Monday January 20, also pushes the musical envelope.
Recent album On Pain includes minimalist electronica as well as pop with lyrics tackling loss, mortality and the passage of time.
He will play tracks from that album and his impressive back catalogue dating back to The Commotions in the Granite City.
Lloyd said: “I wish I could be more minimalist as I listen to artists such as Plastikman and it is amazing.
“He can have a track go on for 10 minutes and it is just three instruments with mostly just drum machine, but it is still great.
“Minimalism is a lovely challenge when recording and it is something we have decided to embrace more on this tour.
“I’m hoping I can continue to be excited by trying to find new sounds.
“And find inspiration in those sounds.
“More and more I’m finding excitement from the process of creating sounds.
“One of the things I relish about creating music is that inevitably everyone will hear things slightly differently.
“That is an idea I embraced a very, very long time ago.
“I don’t like didactic art or any kind of art that tells me how to think.”
Reuniting with The Commotions
Lloyd will be joined in Aberdeen by a full band featuring founding members of The Commotions, Blair Cowan and Neil Clark.
The performance will embrace his entire career from his 1984 debut with The Commotions Rattlesnakes’ up to the acclaimed On Pain.
Lloyd said: “I’m excited to play with a band again as I went quite a few years without that.
“When I’m touring as a solo artist I have two guitars and my mate who does the sound.
“We drive around in a decent sized car and have a reasonable amount of time to get a nice lunch most days.
“On our days off we can play golf.
“When I was there last time we got to play Royal Aberdeen and it’s a brilliant course.
“With a band logistics are much more difficult when there are eight people involved instead of two.
“Everything needs to be more regimented.
“Also rehearsing for my solo show means I practice my guitar for a couple of weeks to make sure I have callouses on my fingers for the tour.
“Rehearsing for this is so much more.
“I thought I had tendinitis in my arms from playing bass so much yesterday.
“With the band it is a completely different show and we can play certain songs that don’t work acoustically.
“It’s fun to be loud once in a while.”
Working with minimalist legend
Although best known for guitar-oriented rock Lloyd has made groundbreaking synth music: such as 2001’s Plastic Wood,
He also recorded Selected Studies, Vol. I with Hans-Joachim Roedelius of legendary German kosmische band Cluster.
He said: “The very first instrumental record I made was Plastic Wood.
“There’s a few bits on it that clearly come from my love of Cluster although I don’t think I intended it at the time.
“Someone I know is friends with Joachim and sent a copy of Plastic Wood to him.
“He liked it enough that made his own version by adding overdubs to it.
“Then he sent it to me and said ‘let’s release it’.
“I said it amazing but I’ve already released it so can’t do it again.
“However. we could maybe do something in the future.
“It took us 10 years but we eventually found time to do Selected Studies.
“We didn’t get together in the studio but deliberately created unfinished pieces that we sent to each other.
“Then we each completed the pieces the other had started.
“It was great and led to me being able to perform at his 80th birthday celebrations in Berlin which was wonderful.
“And I haven’t given up on the idea of us doing Selected Studies Volume 2… you never know.”
Conversation