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Jul 31, 2023The typical Cole trademarks are here in abundance—the sharp lyrics; the simple but effective melodies; the deftness of touch. However, On Pain combines them with a little bit of what he was trying to avoid in the ’80s, in a very pleasing and effective manner.
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Jun 23, 2023In the end, Lloyd Cole makes the title of On Pain sound ironic. It’s as if the eight tracks and thirty-seven minutes are intended as an antidote to the psychic turbulence pervading the world at large in 2023.
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MojoJun 23, 2023A richly detailed synth-pop LP of admirable sophistication. [Jul 2023, p.82]
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Jun 23, 2023On Pain is overall both an exciting artistic achievement and a record that should fit the bill for anyone looking for a very cold and sad synth pop update.
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Jun 23, 2023He too, has become more of what he always was. And somehow he's achieved that by paring his music down t its rawest essence. [Jul 2023, p.26]
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Jun 27, 2023The literate lyrics, his expressive voice, his knack for hummable melodies—suggest that he has fully arrived at the next phase of a career that continues to deliver songs worth hearing.
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Classic Rock MagazineJun 28, 2023These lush ambient soundscapes mostly make great backdrops to the 62-year-old crooner's pithy musing and archly allusive lyrics, especially on more widescreen numbers. [Summer 2023, p.75]
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Jun 23, 2023Anyone who wants a nostalgia rush back to the Commotions days may be disappointed with On Pain, but for everyone else this is an effective indication of an artist steadily on his own path, and doing very well out of it.