It feels like a new Cure album has been promised for years, and today the goth-rock vets are back with their latest song, “Alone,” a gloomy seven-minute epic that the band used to open their huge run of shows last year. It’s also the first song on their forthcoming album, Songs of a Lost World, the Cure’s 14th studio project and their first in 16 years, due out Nov. 1 via Capitol Records.
Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, Songs of a Lost World was produced and mixed by Smith and Paul Corkett. Smith dreamed up the sleeve’s concept — featuring the 1975 “Bagatelle” sculpture by Janez Pirnat — and longtime collaborator Andy Vell managed the art and design.
Read more: Every the Cure album ranked: From worst to best
Speaking of “Alone,” Smith says, “It’s the track that unlocked the record. As soon as we had that piece of music recorded, I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus. I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while, working with the simple idea of ‘being alone,’ always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be. As soon as we finished recording, I remembered the poem ‘Dregs’ by the English poet Ernest Dowson. That was the moment when I knew the song — and the album — were real.”
Check out the album artwork and listen to “Alone” below.
