What else can I write that hasn’t been put down on paper? Yes, Songs Of A Lost World, the new album by The Cure, the first in 16 years, is a masterpiece. And one wonders what diabolical pact this Robert Smith must have made to still sound 25 at 65.
The album has since climbed to number one in the album charts in both the USA and the UK. Comparisons were drawn with the band's undisputed opus magnum: Disintegration from 1989. As ever, The Cure sounded dripping with melancholy and full of world-weariness. And in general, no one disagrees with this conclusion.
Transience is a constant companion throughout the album. In I Can Never Say Goodbye, Smith heartbreakingly deals with the death of his brother. «As a memory of the first time, in the stillness of a teardrop / As you hold me for the last time in the dying of the light,» laments Smith in And Nothing Is Forever.
Songs Of A Lost World is a desperate beacon, written by an ageing man in an ever faster-changing world. What is actually the perfect template for something cringeworthy works because Smith laments but doesn’t point fingers. It has always been that way with The Cure: profoundly personal but with a way of finding yourself in the songs.
When I asked on the Threads platform why the album resonates with people, Alex Storer replied: «I’ve experienced a lot of loss, so the lyrics speak to me personally on that level, but it seems to go further than that; it’s about the passing of time, the sudden feeling of being old(er) and the realisation that the world you've grown up in and been shaped by has changed for the worse.»
And Chris Jakins added: «The message may be bleak, but there's hope in the fact that they’re still saying it and sounding so good.»
And my personal favourites among the answers were provided by these two users:
I remember walking the streets of Zurich at the age of 18 with the album Bloodflowers playing on endless repeat. The soul bathed in adolescent despair, accompanied by The Cure.
Even more than Disintegration, I see a direct kinship between Songs Of A Lost World and 2000’s Bloodflowers. Both have this meandering quality; both take their time in the sprawling compositions and celebrate a warming sadness.
The success of Songs Of A Lost World is both surprising and natural. The Cure have almost prophetically chosen the perfect time for the release: at the turn of an era, while dreams and hopes were shattered in the US elections and a shock wave of bewilderment was sent to Europe. Instead of anger, discouragement and disorientation are on the agenda today. And this album is the perfect soundtrack to the question: What is happening to us right now?
At the same time, The Cure deliver the perfect anachronism, at least musically. In a music industry in which algorithms increasingly influence songwriting, the band creates a bastion of escapist, writhing anthems. It often takes minutes for Smith’s voice to ring out. Hooks in the first three seconds? Not a chance!
The ultimate pinnacle of despair and escapade remains the overwhelming Endsong, the album’s closing track.
It’s all gone, it’s all gone
Nothing left of all I loved
It all feels wrong
It’s all gone, it’s all gone, it’s all gone
No hopes, no dreams, no world
No, I, I don’t belong
No, I don't belong here
Songs Of A Lost World is unwieldy, wants you to take your time. It’s a stew album: the longer it simmers, the more often you stir it, the tastier it becomes.
This is anything but a matter of course today, especially for younger generations. And yet, the album also resonates with them. Characterised by a drastic pandemic and fears about the future, a new wave of melancholy and thoughtfulness has emerged in music, inspired by post-punk and dark wave.
Society and young people today are too fragmented to make generalised statements. And generalisations are always dangerous. But the days of escaping into hedonism seem to be over. Hangover mood. The challenges are too great to simply ignore.
The Cure and their Songs Of A Lost World create catharsis not through ignorance of the world but through empathy. Robert Smith knows how to say with his songs: I see you and feel your pain. It’s okay to feel desperate.
