“Songs of a Lost World” review by The Cure: All 8 songs ranked

“And Nothing is Forever” is perhaps the album's most conventionally beautiful track, with its gentle opening passage of plaintive piano chords and sweeping synth strings. But conventional beauty has never really been what The Cure does best. The song is so slow that it seems almost funereal, which is appropriate given the lyrics.

“'And Nothing is Forever' is about a promise I made to someone who was very sick that I would be with them when they died. And that wasn't me. And because that wasn't the case, I wrote the song,” Smith explained in a 100-minute video interview released two weeks before the album's release. The Cure has long favored long instrumental intros – think of how “Fascination Street” set a groove for over two minutes before Smith opened his mouth. Songs of a lost worldhowever, takes this approach to new extremes, with several songs saving all lyrics for the second half of the track.

Bassist Simon Gallup is the longest-serving Cure member alongside Robert Smith – he's been with the band since 1979, with the exception of 18 months in the mid-'80s and a strange two-month period in 2021 when he announced it and then walked away , another farewell to the Cure. Gallup's rumbling bass lines have always been an integral part of Cure's signature sound, but his heavily distorted bass is front and center in the mix Songs of a lost world like never before.

This really comes through on “All I Ever Am,” where Gallup plays a very catchy tune that probably would have been played on piano on an 80s Cure album. Much of the album will already be familiar to fans who saw The Cure on their Shows of a Lost World tour in 2023. However, “All I Ever Am” was one of three songs not previewed on the tour, along with “All I Ever Am”. Warsong” and “Drone:Nodrone”.

“Endsong” is one of two song titles Lost worldalong with “Warsong,” which immediately brings to mind “Plainsong” and “Lovesong.” decayThe latter was The Cure's biggest American chart hit, reaching number 2 on the Hot 100. With a running time of over 10 minutes, “Endsong” is the second longest studio track in the Cure catalog, surpassed only by the 11-minute “Watching Me Fall” from the 2000s Blood flowers. A tambourine and the handclaps of a drum machine give “Endsong” a more polyrhythmic feel than the rest of the album, as the track slowly builds to Smith's vocals, which enter the song more than six minutes into the song.

“Endsong” certainly feels like it could be a curtain raiser for the Cure’s entire career, but that’s not Smith’s plan. In his interview promoting the album, Smith revealed that the band is working on two more new albums, one of which is “virtually finished.”

“Alone” has opened just about every Cure concert since 2022, and in September it was released as the first new Cure studio track in over a decade. What stands out most about the song, and what sends waves of excitement among The Cure's die-hard fan base, is how little the seven-minute track sounds like a lead single. “Alone” is a strong statement of intent that the album is intended for the fans and not radio programmers. There's a brutal physicality to the way Jason Cooper, The Cure's drummer since 1995, pounds away on his snare drum and tom-toms on “Alone,” but it's a stately and graceful song with a haunting, descending triplet figure , which is played on piano and guitar.

American guitarist Reeves Gabrels is best known for the distinctive phrasing and squeaky leads of his work with Davie Bowie and Tin Machine, and his sound was instantly recognizable when he first played a Cure song, 1997's “Wrong Number.” In most cases, Gabrels is much more reserved Songs of a lost worldthe first album since he became a full member of Cure in 2012. The most notable exception is his wild, dissonant lead guitar on “Drone:Nodrone.” It's an outlier Songs from a lost world: the fastest song and the only lyric that fully exists in the modern world, with Smith becoming annoyed with surveillance technology after he sees a drone flying over his house.

Smith says he wrote “Warsong” about “someone I fell out with, made up with, fell out with” and the conflict inherent in human relationships. Given that over a dozen musicians have played at the Cure over the past few decades, and many of them have left and returned to the Cure, it's actually hard to say exactly who the song is about. At 4 minutes and 17 seconds, “Warsong” would have been the longest song on Cure’s 1979 debut Three imaginary boysbut here it is the shortest route. “I want your dead, you want my life” is perhaps the album's best example of the devastatingly succinct and dramatic lyrics that Smith is known and loved for.

Both of Robert Smith's parents and his brother Richard died in the 2010s. And the feeling of sadness and loss that hovers ominously over us Songs of a lost world It's felt most deeply on “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” written about Richard's unexpected death. At one point, Smith sings, “Something evil comes this way,” a phrase coined by Shakespeare The tragedy of Macbeth. “I Can Never Say Goodbye” opens with rain sound effects, perhaps reminiscent of this decay Fans of The Same Deep Water as You.

Songs of a lost worldThe second single from “Smith” is the only time on the album that Smith sings in the first minute of the song – just at the 50-second mark. It is also his strongest vocal performance on the album, with multi-tracked harmonies in the chorus. When an aging artist releases a new album, the first thing you often notice is how their voice has changed over time. However, the 65-year-old Smith sounds remarkably identical to the 25-year-old Smith, especially when his voice expressively breaks on the word “regret.”