The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

Post-punk giants The Cure awoke from a 16-year release hiatus with their most melancholic album to date, Songs Of A Lost World. Sticking to the gloomy and sentimental roots that they have been acclaimed for since the 80’s, the British group have maintained the ability to make your heart swell and pry open your tear ducts in 2024.  The Cure’s modern take on their haunting ethereal instrumentation and cathartic songwriting makes this album feel like the desolate aftermath of earlier genre-defining releases such as Disintegration. With themes of loss and regret permeating the LP, The Cure is at their most mature.

Frontman Robert Smith’s vocals and swoon-inducing songwriting have not weathered a bit since the start of his career. The comforting familiarity of Smith’s richly melancholic and emotive tenor hits just as hard as always, which helps to not overwhelm the listener with the deeply emotional and personal lyrical content of the album. While Smith’s lyrics call back to the raw introspection of early classics, there's a newfound depth to his reflections on loss and aging now that he is 65 years old.  The song “I Can Never Say Goodbye” is explicitly about the passing of the singer’s brother, which is a deeply moving and welcomed left turn from the typical romantic imagery in the band’s catalog. The overt expression of grief in the line, “Something wicked this way comes to steal away my brother’s life” repeating throughout the song transports us away from any of the melodramatic points of the album and forces us to reflect on the very real sense of loss the past decade has brought to many. Smith continues to cover contemporary issues on the track “Warsong,” a powerful statement about the incessant need we feel to argue with those we love that seems more prevalent now than ever before. The song gradually pulls away from the elegant melodies of previous tracks, until it sounds like the instruments themselves are arguing with each other to see which one can produce as much terrific distortion as possible. 

The album having just eight songs makes each feel intentional and personal. However, the top singles leading up to this release unfortunately gave us most of the best moments it has to offer. “Alone” and “A Fragile Thing” are some of the best material the band has released to date, especially the latter. The rest of the album does not reach the same emotional and sonic highs that these tracks do until it closes off with the dramatic and beautiful “Endsong.” Simon Gallup’s pulsating bassline works in tandem with the iconic sound of shimmering New Wave synths to merge the old into the new on “A Fragile Thing.” Although instrumentally this track sounds like a modern take on some The Cure’s classic lovey-dovey romantic hits, the lyrics reflect a more tragic reality of enduring issues in long-term relationships. Lines from the disillusioned female narrator like “You make believe you need me, but you try too hard, and it feels so wrong” seem to be directed at Robert Smith himself, showing the singer's heightened self-awareness  that he has gained with age. Smith has more to express than just the comforting excitement of love nowadays, which is reinforced by the subject material of grief and loss on aforementioned tracks. Smith’s catharsis is palpable through the bluntly genuine lyrics present throughout the LP. 

The Cure could not be the kings of dark emotional intensity that they are without the glacial soundscapes that they are able to produce. While The Cure have previously used instrumental openings to build tension and excitement, the band diverts from that formula by giving the album space with its prolonged instrumental moments. The six-minute instrumental opening to the closing track aptly named “Endsong” allows a moment of relief from the heavy-hitting themes throughout the album before Robert Smith pulls you right back in with his haunting voice. This ten-minute long closer really solidifies the album as an experience rather than simply a compilation as it hammers home the fact that this really might be The Cure saying goodbye. However, the instrumental production comes off a little too strong on tracks like “Drone:Nodrone.” With chirpy synthesizers and vocal effects that sound somewhat dated, this song ends up taking some of the listener’s immersion away from the album’s heart wrenching atmosphere. Although this track may feel a little bloated, the ecstatic energy behind its guitar solo brings life to the LP without straying from The Cure’s sound.

Songs Of A Lost World is a worthy culmination of The Cure’s preceding gloomy and romantic masterpieces. This LP may not attempt anything too bold instrumentally, but it doesn’t need to. The Cure have honed their craft and atmosphere to a T, and this release uses that to tug on your heart strings from start to finish. Even weaker tracks still undeniably harbor The Cure’s moody charm that still holds up today and makes your heart flutter. It is miraculous to see such an influential band still maintain what makes them great at their core after all of this time. People of any age can appreciate the undying passion in these eight songs. At its best, Songs Of A Lost World recaptures the magic of sentimental post-punk while still feeling like it has something new to say with Robert Smith’s developed sense of clarity. If there are more releases to come, this album makes me confident that The Cure certainly will not disappoint. Tune into WGSU to hear some of the best from The Cure’s new LP, and by the time you’re done wiping your tears make sure to stick around to discover some lesser-known artists on our 24/7 rotation of alternative and indie tailored just for you.

Kyle Bulger is a Freshman at SUNY Geneseo and currently hosts "The Undertow" on WGSU, Tuesdays at 5PM.