The Cure
Songs
of a Lost World
(Fiction/Capitol)
My introduction to The Cure was around 40 years ago with their jaunty single “The Lovecats.” I absolutely cannot describe how big that song was in helping determine my musical journey as a teenager. Never had I heard a song so exuberant. There was unbelievable feeling inside those three and a half minutes in such a silly little pop song. There was a distinct noticeable passion, a sense of free experimentation, and an uncanny tunefulness that captured my heart. I couldn’t stop listening to it. This led me to seek out more and I learned how different they were before that song. That passion was always there no matter if we’re talking about their earliest spiky garage punk, or their mysterious sparse post-punk, or the bleak, unrelenting darkness of Pornography, to the synth-pop of that time I first heard them. The Cure paved their own varied path and even in their lesser moments (in my opinion) have always been intriguing and worth notice. Their long and storied discography is varied, exciting and refreshing.
Here we are with a new album, Songs from a Lost World, sixteen years after 2008’s 4:13 Dream. To be honest, I haven’t been very engaged with their output since 1992’s Wish and even that one took me awhile to fully appreciate. I think a big part of it is that I had changed my tastes away from those early teenage years – not that I didn’t listen to the hell out of their post Disintegration releases, because I still felt Robert Smith’s path and how he has never phoned in a record. He has staunchly continued to be wildly creative, varied, unceasingly heartfelt, and authentic..
When Songs of a Lost World finally showed up, after years of leaks, and live performances of some of these new songs, I was excited like I was as a kid anticipating the release date of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me in 1987 as a 16 year old – snagging a random ride to the nearest town that might have a record store that would offer a copy. On the actual release date of Lost World on November 1st, before I ventured out to the local record shop, I was surprised at the immediate social media nitpicking of the record. Everyone’s opinions are welcome and at least as valid as mine, yet I wonder why the so many were so immediately critical. Why listen to it once and complain about the long intros before Robert Smith’s vocals come in. Have they actually ever listened to The Cure?! It’s been a staple for years!! Having said that, my early critique is that the mix is too compressed and in your face. I think I’d prefer for the sound to be more dynamic, allowing the brilliant arrangements to rise and fall, though through endless repeated listens it has started to expand for me and reveal more subtleties.
Robert Smith had a huge influence on not just my musical tastes, but also introducing me to an unhealthy fear of aging. As a 14 year old, I would listen to The Head on the Door’s timeless ode to growing old “Sinking” like an old man fearing his oncoming and inevitable death. The day I turned 22, I told a 15 year old kid I occasionally worked with that I was “over the hill.” Now, close to 40 years later, this album has connected in a similar way, as a realistic sense of mortality has crept into my life. Smith’s lyrics on this album are as incisive as he’s ever been. There’s a laser like focus of someone obsessed with finding a way to navigate the fear of death as decay sets in. This has hit home for me, in a similar way the Cure first began guiding me through my formative tears. Every song feels both tragic, yet redemptive and exciting. So many of those ancient Cure songs helped a lot of us along with relatable songs, while offering a lot of amazing tunes and commiseration. Words that can be comforting and help us not feel so alone.
“Alone,” the first song and single is a sad lament about the finality of death. It is so heartbreakingly relatable, yet woven inside a catchy meditative tune that repeats the line “where did it go” refrain with a genuine worry. The orchestrations of the aging love ballad “Nothing Lasts Forever” makes me think of a senior prom slow dance only aimed at a roomful of people who no longer feel safe going out after dark. Meanwhile, “A Fragile Thing” sounds a lot like one of those great album tracks that may not attract attention initially but eventually becomes the favorite over time that the Cure are so adept at creating.
“War Song” comes on incredibly heavy the way “The Kiss” did with Smith’s distinctive wailing unsettled guitar easily describing the conflict long before the bitter lyrics hit. “Drone: No Drone” is an in your face grinder that flows with a groovy classic Simon Gallup bassline and a great Smith vocal chorus that lands somewhere between “Hot Hot Hot!!!” and “Burn.”
Overall, Songs of a Lost World, reminds me of Disintegration (1989). Back then, many of us thought that that album was going to be the Cure’s final album, but this feels like the perfect follow up. “I Can Never Say Goodbye” hints at “Prayers for Rain,” while referencing the orchestration and the less resigned side of “And Nothing is Forever.” The penultimate song “All I Ever Am” begins with a warbled keyboard hook before pounding into an urgent refection of past mistakes and regrets. Would anything have mattered? The closing “Endsong” is an epic in every way, but the long opening builds and builds much the way “Closedown” did in 1989, as it leads into a truly sad lament about losing everything. All the work we do in life. All of the goals, the dreams, the successes, all lead to “Nothing” in the end. Perhaps it’s just me, but in “Endsong,”Smith sounds less hurt than the opening “Alone.” It’s as if he has guided us toward more acceptance along the way through these eight numbers. It’s an incredibly intense song that pulls no punches. It may sound strange, but such a direct sad song is inspiring to me. The sadness is truly felt, in the way that The Cure have always delivered the gamut of emotions in such a genuine way. The directness and harsh reality of the words, help in addressing my own feelings regarding death, amongst many other realities.
Welcome back to The Cure! This album is excellent in so many ways. Songs of a Lost World is exactly the balm I needed in these strange, uncertain, and confusing times. As I continue to read various complaints about this album, I can’t help but wonder if a fairly new band put out an album of this quality, how many would be drooling over it as the landmark great release of our time? Personally, I hope that this is an album I will hungrily listen to for a long time to come. Leave it to the Cure who initially inspired a passion in me for seeking out truly honest music that confronts a lot of those emotions many of us fear to come along and chisel away the hardened coating that has grown around my heart through a lot of experience.
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