The Cure : Songs Of A Lost World

There aren’t many bands that can take a 16 year break between albums without suffering some kind of hit. Most bands aren’t The Cure, though. The musical icons of grand melancholy and the Godfathers of goths everywhere have done just that. The last album Robert Smith and Co released was 2008s disappointing 4:13 Dream. It was a record with some great songs that were stifled by muddy production and an overall sense of underdevelopment. Given we’d waited 4 years for that one(following 2004s self-titled), made that disappointment all the more palpable.

After several rumors of a follow-up coming soon after, silence, more hints at something coming, silence, then new songs popping up in live set lists, we have finally arrived at our long time coming new Cure album. And Songs Of A Lost World was well worth the 16-year wait.

Despite Robert Smith making us waiting nearly two decades for a new Cure album, he seems completely back to form. The album is rich sonically and musically, giving us grandiose, melancholy songs that remind us why The Cure and Smith continue to be such a much-loved and revered band.

“Alone” is the kind of opener we’ve come to expect from a Cure record; big, epic production with the heft of a proper album opener. It captures the magic of the classics like “Plainsong”, “In Between Days”, “The Kiss”, and “One Hundred Years”. It also helps that Robert Smith sounds just as good in his 60s as he did in his 20s. The makeup and Eraserhead hair may not, but his voice makes up for all of that. “Alone” is a stunning piece of work. “And Nothing Is Forever” is a grand musical statement, ornamented in lush synth strings and melancholy. It’s an absolutely stunning song that shows what an amazing songwriter Robert Smith has always been.

Songs Of A Lost World is filled with nothing but top tier Cure songs, and I guess taking 16 years to make it allows that kind of quality control. From the heavy “Warsong” to the lilting piano ballad “I Can Never Say Goodbye” to the epic 10-minute closer “Endsong”, The Cure’s new album plays like a greatest hits of Cure songs we’ve never heard.

There’s rumors that another Cure album is ready as Smith wrote over 40 tracks. We’ve heard this one before, so if it doesn’t happen it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Still, if Songs Of A Lost World is the last Cure album they’re at least going out on top.