Songs of a Lost World, the Cure’s first studio album in 16 years, has been teased for the past decade, bordering on mythology, but it’s finally out today.
The goth luminaries played a few of its songs during their massive tour last year, opening those shows with “Alone.” Robert Smith describes the seven-minute epic as “the song that unlocked the record,” anchored by pensive anticipation (Smith doesn’t start singing until after the three-minute mark). “As soon as we recorded that song, I knew it had to be the opening song, and I felt the whole record come into focus,” he says. From there, the album plunges deeper into themes of loss and time, from “I Can Never Say Goodbye” — a song about the passing of Smith’s brother — to the towering melancholy of “Endsong.”
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Through the decades, the Cure have shapeshifted through dreary paranoia and pop love songs, influencing dozens of artists disparate in genre (Nine Inch Nails, Thursday, Phoebe Bridgers). Songs of a Lost World proves they are still masters of their craft, punctuated by Smith’s plaintive voice.
Stream the Cure’s Songs of a Lost World and London album show below.