2024 studio album by the Cure

Songs of a Lost World is the fourteenth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 1 November 2024 via Fiction,[1]: 113  Lost Music, Universal,[2] Polydor, and Capitol Records.[3] It is the band`s first release of new material in 16 years since the release of 4:13 Dream in 2008. All the songs on the album were composed solely by singer/guitarist Robert Smith, for the first time since the 1985 album The Head on the Door. It is also their first studio album to feature Reeves Gabrels although he was previously featured on the band`s 1997 single "Wrong Number".

Upon release, the album received critical acclaim, with particular praise for the lyrics, dark sound, and Smith`s vocals.

Background

Songs of a Lost World was several years in the making, and is the Cure`s first studio album since 4:13 Dream in 2008. The album was originally intended for release in 2019.[3] It is the band`s first full-length album to feature Reeves Gabrels on guitar since he joined as a full time member in 2012. It also features the studio return of keyboardist Roger O`Donnell, who rejoined the band in 2011 after a six-year hiatus.

Five of the album`s songs, including "Alone",[4] had been performed live in 2022 and 2023 during their Shows of a Lost World worldwide tour.[1]: 108  Multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte rejoined the band in 2022 for that tour, but does not appear on the album because most of the recording was completed in 2019.[1]: 111 

The songs were entirely written, composed, and arranged by Robert Smith.[1]: 107  During the writing process, Smith had difficulty "find[ing] the right imagery" for the lyrics to "Alone", ultimately finding inspiration from the Ernest Dowson poem "Dregs".[1]: 109 

Artwork

Smith chose Bagatelle, a 1975 sculpture by Slovenian artist Janez Pirnat, to illustrate the sleeve.[2] The album cover was then designed by Andy Vella.[5]

Promotion

The album`s release was officially announced on 26 September 2024, with the release of the lead single, "Alone",[5] and a dedicated website.[4] The track listing was revealed by an email sent to mailing list members on 9 October 2024, and was subsequently posted on the Cure`s official website.

The second single, "A Fragile Thing", was released on 9 October 2024.[6] On 14 October 2024, Smith said that a tour in support of Songs of a Lost World will begin in “autumn next year” after the completion of a projected follow-up album.[7]

The band performed a concert at BBC Radio Theatre on 31 October, one hour broadcast by BBC Radio 2 on the In Concert show including versions of "Alone", "A Fragile Thing" and "Endsong",[8] and another hour broadcast by BBC Radio 6 Music for Huw Stephens show, including versions of "I Can Never Say Goodbye", "And Nothing Is Forever" and "All I Ever Am".[9]

Critical reception

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Songs of a Lost World received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 93 out of 100 from 19 critic scores.[11] Franck Vergeade of Les Inrockuptibles reported that "only two listens were authorized by the record company" to review the album: he qualified it "flamboyant gothic".[22] Andrew Trendell of NME gave the album a five-star review, stating "there`s always enough heart in the darkness and opulence in the sound to hold you", and believed it was "arguably the most personal album of Smith`s career. Mortality may loom, but there`s colour in the black and flowers on the grave".[18] Éamon de Paor of The Irish Times praised the album, giving it four stars and describing it as "Majestically desolate, gorgeously grim", adding that "It moves like a glacier at midnight – magnificent, unstoppable and with a chill that settles in hard and heavy and does not leave." De Paor likened the sound of the album to bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Cocteau Twins, Pink Floyd, and New Order.[15]

Sam Walker-Smart of Clash gave a score of 9/10, and felt the album "is one of their most emotionally raw", citing "Endsong" as the highlight of the album.[13] John Robb of Louder Than War gave the album a score of 5/5, observing, "An album of elegiac, brooding masterpieces that deal with the heartbreak of loss with dark, masterful music dripping with melody, nuance and atmosphere."[23]

Victoria Segal of Mojo gave the album four out of five stars, praising Smith`s vocals: "On a record so alert to the cataclysmic effects of mortality, it’s remarkable how fundamentally unchanged Smith’s voice is, uncracked into a Bob Dylan croak or plunged to new Leonard Cohen depths", while also noting the album lacked anything "approaching a pop song ... The `Never Enough` grooves of the spectacular `Drone` slide closest to a gear-change, but even there, the ground is unsteady."[17] The Times`s Will Hodgkinson praised it in a five-star review saying: "On the goth rockers` first album in 16 years, Robert Smith tackles the death of loved ones and his own demise in music of expansive sophistication".[20]

The German edition of Rolling Stone criticized the album for "flat songs" that sounded "redundant" with endless introductions.[24]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Robert Smith.

Personnel

The Cure

• Robert Smith – vocals, guitar, six-string bass, keyboards, songwriting, arrangements, production, mixing, recording assistance, sleeve concept, pictures of stone
• Simon Gallup – bass
• Jason Cooper – drums, percussion
• Roger O`Donnell – keyboards
• Reeves Gabrels – guitar

Production

• Paul Corkett – production, recording, mixing
• Jack Boston – recording assistance
• Joe Jones – recording assistance
• Bunny Lake – recording assistance
• Matt Colton – mastering
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Miles Showell – vinyl mastering
• Andy Vella – art, design
• Janez Pirnat – Bagatelle sculpture