You might think that after being silent for 16 years, The Cure would be in a rush to get things going. Think again. It takes over three minutes of โAloneโ โ the first song on their new album โ before we finally hear Robert Smith’s voice. The Cure are back, but definitely on their terms.
The eight-track album โSongs of a Lost Worldโ is lush and deeply orchestral, swelling and powerful, with often several minutes of instruments jamming before any singing.
There are melancholic and mournful lyrics that confront mortality and wonder where time went. โIโm outside in the dark/Wondering/How I got so old,โ Smith sings in the last, sprawling, heartbreaking song.
โSongs of a Lost Worldโ is, indeed, not of this world. None of the tunes are under four minutes and the last one saunters past 10. In an era when music is fashioned for microbursts on TikTok, Smith is disinterested. He lets songs take their time, unrushed and able to breath, the beauty of the melodies and instruments leading the way.
The first and last songs are in conversation, with the first stating โThis is the end/Of every song we sing/Aloneโ and the final echoing the thought: โItโs all gone/Left alone with nothing/The end of every song.โ There is a finality that fans will find distressful.
The album is The Cure’s first since 2008’s โ4:13 Dreamโ โ although Smith has been making music, including a terrific collaboration with CHVRCHES. Eight new songs doesn’t sound like a lot, but they are all rich and satisfying.
One of the highlights is โI Can Never Say Goodbye,โ in which a simple, insistent piano noodle is surrounded by fluttering guitar work as Smith comes to terms with his brother’s death. The band also goes cinematic with โAnd Nothing Is Forever,โ which has an Aaron Copland bright orchestral vibe, while โWarsongโ is a dissonant, spikey downer that concludes โwe are born to war.โ
โAll I Ever Amโ is built on some interesting drumming, plinky piano and fuzzy guitars, a bright wave of music with Smith’s customary gloomy lyrics: โAll I ever am/Is somehow never quite/All I am now.โ It is classic The Cure and yet thrillingly not.
We are in an era of โ80s bands reemerging like cicadas โ Tears for Fears, Crowded House, the The, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, among them โ but โSongs of a Lost Worldโ is no attempt to recapture โFriday Iโm In Loveโ or โIn Between Days.โ It is a huge step forward. It is The Cureโs best album since โDisintegration.โ Hopefully, there will be more.
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