Music Review: The Cure return after a long hiatus to look at mortality with one of their best albums

You might think that after 16 years of silence, The cure would be in a hurry to get things going. Think again. It takes a good three minutes of “Alone” – the first song on their new album – before we finally hear Robert Smith’s voice. The Cure is back, but definitely on their terms.

The eight-track album “Songs of a Lost World” is lush and deeply orchestral, swelling and powerful, often with several minutes of instruments jamming before singing.

There are melancholic and sad lyrics that confront mortality and wonder where time has gone. “I’m outside in the dark/Wondering/How I got so old,” Smith sings in the final, expansive, heartbreaking song.

‘Songs of a Lost World’ is indeed out of this world. None of the songs are under four minutes long, with the last one strolling past ten. In an age where music is made for microbursts on TikTok, Smith is disinterested. He allows songs to take their time, undisturbed and able to breathe, with the beauty of the melodies and instruments taking precedence.

The first and last songs are in conversation, with the first saying, “This is the end/of every song we sing/Alone” and the latter echoing the thought, “It’s all gone/Left alone with nothing/The end of each song.” There is a finality that fans will find disturbing.

The album is The Cure’s first since 2008’s “4:13 Dream” – although Smith also makes music, including a great collaboration with CHVRCHES. Eight new songs doesn’t sound like much, but they’re all rich and satisfying.

One of the highlights is “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” in which a simple, insistent piano noodle is surrounded by fluttering guitar work as Smith processes the death of his brother. The band also goes cinematic with ‘And Nothing Is Forever’, which has a bright orchestral vibe from Aaron Copland, while ‘Warsong’ is a dissonant, spiky downer that concludes ‘we were born for war’.

“All I Ever Am” is built on interesting drumming, plinky piano and fuzzy guitars, a bright wave of music with Smith’s usual somber lyrics: “All I ever am/Is somehow never quite/All I am now.” It’s classic The Cure and yet not exciting.

We’re in an era where ’80s bands are resurfacing like crickets – tears of fear, Crowded House, the The, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, among them – but ‘Songs of a Lost World’ is not an attempt to recapture ‘Friday I’m In Love’ or ‘In Between Days’. It’s a huge step forward. It is The Cure’s best album since ‘Disintegration’. Hopefully there will be more.

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