Rock comebacks are in — which is why it isn't surprising that The Cure is back in the headlines.
After a few weeks of the British band teasing new music, they dropped their first single in 16 years on Thursday — "Alone" — off of their upcoming 14th album, "Songs of a Lost World," set for release on Day of the Dead, November 1.
The band's last album, "4:13 Dream," which was released in 2008, received a Pitchfork score of 6.7, with reviewer Nitsuh Abebe describing it as the regrouped four-piece's attempt to capture "a raw, invigorating sound." Known for classic goth rock hits like "Friday I'm In Love," "Pictures of You" and "Just Like Heaven," it seems like they're headed towards a higher score with the new album. In The Guardian's review of "Alone," writer Alexis Petridis describes the new music as "beautiful" and an "appetizer" to what's to come.
For years, Robert Smith — the singer known for his jet-black hair and red lipstick — teased that new music was on its way, but the process took longer than superfans would have hoped, with various delays interfering.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2019, Smith said, "For the first time in 20 years, we went into a studio . . . The songs are like 10 minutes, 12 minutes long. We recorded 19 songs." And yet, still, fans were made to wait as things gelled together for the band.
Smith hoped at the time of that interview that the band would finish the project and release it in the fall of 2019, but years passed with no new studio release. In an interview with NME, Smith said, "I feel intent on it being a 2019 release and would be extremely bitter if it isn't."
Finally, "Songs of a Lost World" is on its way for real, after the band spent five years working on the project.
Smith told Billboard that "Alone" was "the track that unlocked the record," saying, "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."
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“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," Smith said. ". . . This nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be . . . as soon as we finished recording, I remembered the poem 'Dregs' by the English poet Ernest Dowson. That was the moment when I knew the song – and the album – were real."
Following in the steps of reunited British rockers Oasis, The Cure's members Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper, Reeves Gabrels and Roger O'Donnell are all returning for the band's 2024 venture. This is after bassist Gallup said in 2021 that he was “no longer a member of The Cure," because he "just got fed up of betrayal." The member walked back that statement, deleting the post and rejoining the group, NME reported. O'Donnell, who plays keyboard, recently announced he had been diagnosed with rare and “aggressive” blood cancer but said, “I’m fine and the prognosis is amazing."
The band's fanbase is speculating that they will release tour dates soon following the Nov. 1 album release.
Listen to "Alone" down below:
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