Nostalgic melodies

ENGLISH rock band The Cure is releasing their 14th album, Songs of a Lost World, tomorrow.

The project, that comes 16 years after their earlier studio album 4:13 Dream, was initially intended for a 2019 release.

Frontman Robert Smith revealed that he blames himself for the delay.

“I keep going back over and redoing them, which is silly. At some point, I have to say that’s it,” he said in an interview, adding that, while he does not consider the album to be ‘relentlessly doom and gloom’, the recent loss of his parents and brother has had an effect on him in the process of creation.

Robert described the album’s lead single Alone, released in September, as the ‘track that unlocked the record’.

“As soon as we had that piece of music recorded, I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus,” he revealed.

“I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while, working with the simple idea of ‘being alone’, always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be,” he added.

The eight-track album was solely composed by the singer and guitarist, marking the second time he has done so since 1985’s The Head on the Door. He also produced the project alongside Paul Corkett, who previously co-produced the album Bloodflowers (2000).

Ahead of its release, the body of work is already receiving critical acclaim, as it earned a 94/100 score on Metacritic.

The critically acclaimed band has been active since 1976, and was previously known as ‘Malice and Easy Cure’ before the members landed on their current band name. They have sold more than 30 million albums and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

Reaching their commercial peak with the studio albums Disintegration (1989) and Wish (1992), The Cure is often regarded as one of the most influential acts of the 1980s, as they’ve been credited as a source of inspiration by a number of ensembles, including Blink-182, Spoon, Korn and Foals.

Alongside Robert, the members’ line-up currently consists of Simon Gallup on bass, Roger O’Donnell on keyboards, Perry Bamonte on guitar and keyboard, Jason Cooper on drums and percussion, and Reeves Gabrels on guitar.