New Cure album induces some nostalgia along with perspective 

I never thought I would be writing a review on a new Cure album, but finally, their 14th album, “Songs of a Lost World, ( Nov. 1) has been released. 

This is the band’s first album since 2008’s “4:13 Dream, ” and has been highly anticipated by fans for a while. A new album had been in the works for a few years now, and “Songs of a Lost World” was originally slated for release in 2019. All of the lyrics were written by lead singer Robert Smith (he also co-produced the album) and has been the only constant member of the band since their formation in 1976. 

While doing background research on this album, I learned that the last album to be fully composed by Smith’s was 1985’s “The Head on the Door.” 

When I saw the band at the opening night of the appropriately titled tour “Shows of a Lost World” in New Orleans (summer of 2023), they played what were then unreleased songs from “Songs of a Lost World.” 

It was awesome hearing new Cure songs, and now, being able to hear them fully formed on this new album. 

The album tracklist is eight songs,and with a runtime of 49 minutes, it leaves no room for filler from the first to the last song; everything feels important to the listening experience. Smith does not shy away from the fact that the band is getting older. The opening song “Alone” (this was also the first single released) opens with a long instrumental intro that sets the somber tone of many of the tracks. 

The long intro also builds up momentum until the vocals finally come in. Smith’s moody voice comes in at around the three minutes and 22 seconds mark with the lyrics, “This is the end of every song that we sing.” “Alone” paints vivid imagery of being haunted by the past, “Cold and afraid, the ghosts of all that we’ve been.” 

While listening to the album, I started thinking about the legacy of the band. Their sound has changed a lot since the guitar pop-punk sound of their debut, “Three Imaginary Boys” (1979). The bands ‘80s output solidified their goth rock sound, and they have come a long way since “Boys Don’t Cry” (1979) and “Friday I’m in Love” (1992). 

Many times throughout their career, they have shed that goth sound that made them so distinctive in the first place and have made more traditional pop songs that are beloved. 

They have shown their musical versatility repeatedly. A song can make a singer immortal and their younger self is forever preserved within the recording of their voice. 

“Songs” does feel like a reflection of their over four decades as a band. At times, I am transported back to the first time I listened to “Faith” (1981) and “Disintegration” (1989). I have a wave of nostalgia when I listen to these new songs. 

The constant drumbeat that is the backbone of “All I Ever Am” reminds me of a beating heart getting louder as the emotions rise more. The lyrics like “Alone” of reflecting and being haunted by the past. However, Smith is also faced with his own mortality and what type of future he faces when everything is done. 

The lyrics that felt the most poignant in the song for me were, “I lose all my life like this/Reflecting time and memories/ And all for fear of what I’ll find/If I just stop and empty out my mind/Of all the ghosts and all the dreams/All I hold to in belief/That all I ever am/Is somehow never quite all I am now.” 

Also, the second verse brings the point about mortality and aging, “My weary dance with age/And resignation moves me slow/Towards a dark and empty stage/ Where I can sing of all I know.” 

Classic Cure moments can be heard at many points in the album. “A Fragile Thing” (the second single released) words are one of the recurring topics for many of my favorite songs by the Cure which is love. 

To me, there are two types of Cure love songs, the first are where the singer expresses his undying love for a girl (examples of this are “Lovesong,” “Just Like Heaven” and “Friday I’m in Love”). Then, there are the songs about love that express the heartbreak and betrayal it can bring to a person (examples are “This Is a Lie,” and “Disintegration”). 

“A Fragile Thing” falls into the second category of love songs. The love in this song is done and all the singer has are the words his former partner said to him, “You make-believe you need me, but you try too hard and it feels so wrong/You promise me forever and you say it won’t be long.” 

All the singer has left is to sing his heartbreak in this song, “Nothing you can do but sing, ‘This love is a fragile thing.” 

The final song “Endsong” is over 10 minutes long and is the perfect way to end this album. It’s orchestral and brings the reflections about the passing of time to an end, “Remembering the hopes and dreams I had and all I had to do/And wondering what became of that boy and the world he called his own/I’m outside in the dark wondering how I got so old.” 

The Cure is a band with still a lot to say and who knows who will come next.