The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World (Polydor/Fiction) (13th Floor Album Review)

After 16 years, The Cure finally release their 14th studio album. Songs Of A Lost World finds Robert Smith contemplating death, loneliness, aging and alienation. So what’s new?

Well, for one, a 65 year old writing songs about getting old is very different from one who is 25. The 65-year-old Smith, like many his age, has lost family and friends, including both parents and his older brother, adding even more weight to songs from an artist who has been making emotionally heavy music all his life.

16 years after 2008’s 4:13 Dream and The Cure is now: longtime bassist Simon Gallup, drummer Jason Cooper, Roger O’Donnell on keys and “new guy” Reeves Gabrels on guitar…Reeves was guitarist for Bowie’s post-Ziggy band Tin Machine. Of course Robert Smith is on lead vocals, guitar, 6-string bass and keys and Smith wrote all 8 songs that make up SOALW and he produced the album with Paul Corkett.

Recorded at Rockfield Studio in Wales, the record was originally expected to be released in 2019, but times being what they are, we have it at the end of 2024.

Reeves Gabrels met Robert Smith at David Bowie’s 50^th birthday bash back in 1997 and the two hit it off with Gabrels guesting on tour before finally joining the band in 2012.

With a guitarist like Gabrels on board, one might think that this will be a guitar-driven record…but it is not.

As if to make a point, the first song, Alone, opens with a wash of synth sounds that continue on for over three and a half minutes before Smith’s vocal finally comes in…and there’s barely a guitar lick to be heard.

What we do hear this a dramatic, emotional composition partially inspired by Victorian poet Ernest Dowson’s Dregs. When Smith does sing, his first words are, “This is the end of every song that we sing”. No, this is not going to be that “banger” that generates high rotation airplay, or millions of streams, but for the fan willing to actually sit down and listen, this nearly-seven minute opener will draw you in and prepare you for the next 40+ minutes of music.

As it turns out, Alone is the beginning of a song cycle that ends with Endsong, a 10 minute + track that finds Smith “wondering how I got so old” while crying, “I don’t belong here anymore”.

Robert Smith has always been a voice of the outsider, so these lyrics will almost soothe long-time fans.

Like Along, Endsong begins with an extended intro…this time it’s more than six minutes until we hear Smith’s mournful howl. I must say, Robert Smith does sound in excellent voice throughout this record and although the production is dense, the mix keeps the voice up front enough to hear what he’s saying without a resorting googling the lyrics.

Most of the 8 tracks follow the format of long, dense instrumental intro, followed by Smith’s desperate singing.

The guitar is used sparingly until Warsong, where Reeve’s finally gets to let loose. Smith rises to the occasion with one of his strongest vocal performances…”I want your death, you want my life”, he laments.

Drone: No Drone follows with plenty of feedback, noise and wah wah. The drone in question isn’t the John Cale/VU variety, but rather a camera invading Smith’s private space.  So, add paranoia to the list…

The most moving song of the collection is I Can Never Say Goodbye, a piano ballad written about his late brother featuring ominously rolling thunder effects under Smith’s plaintive voice. “Something wicked this way comes to steal away my brother’s life”.

How could you not be moved?

The weakest track is All I Ever Am thanks largely to its somewhat dated drum sounds…let’s leave the 80s alone.

But overall, this is a very strong record. Smith’s songwriting and his voice are sharper than ever. The rest seems to have done him good.  He may feel that he’s “outside in the dark”, but I’m betting he’s not alone.

Marty Duda

SONGS OF A LOST WORLD is released Friday, November 1st

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

https://thecure.lnk.to/SongsOfALostWorld

 1LP, 2LP, MARBLE VINYL, CASSETTE, CD,

DELUXE CD/BLU-RAY WITH ATMOS MIX & DIGITAL