
The Cure, the band that might’ve made you dance to songs like “Lovecats” and “Friday I’m In Love,” are, maybe more than any other rock group, associated with gloom, sadness and despair. Wouldn’t you be upset if this far in the game, and after years of waiting, their new album, “Songs of a Lost World,” would tell you that, actually, everything’s going to be alright?
Don’t worry because they’re not. On what may turn out to be the group’s entry into retirement, Robert Smith sticks to his nihilism like a man who’s played the long game and is ready to hold a big sign saying, “Told you so!” There’s no hope and plenty of reasons for despair, and the songs are as good as on some of The Cure’s best albums.
The Pink Floyd of Gloom
The Cure is one of the biggest stadium-rock acts of all time and one of the most surprising. The group started out in the shadow of punk-rock, but the group was mostly interested in the DYI philosophy of the genre. Lead by Robert Smith, they wrote wiry, clever songs. By the early 1980s, The Cure had grown the reputation of writing the most depressing songs to land on the charts.
The label of gothic rock had also been stuck to them and to all groups similarly fascinated by the dark and post-punk sounds. Through hard work, perseverance and a remarkably consistent discography, by the late 1980s, The Cure was one of the biggest bands in the world, routinely playing their long, otherworldly compositions to crowds of tens of thousands. That is the version of The Cure that people will be most familiar with, and this is where Robert Smith picks things up on “Songs of a Lost World.”
This is a concept album, alright. It’s an album expiring, running out of time, wasting away, dying. It’s Robert Smith’s long goodbye to the group’s audience. And, most endearing, it’s a farewell done on his own terms. While the songs echo masterful albums like “Disintegration”, little here suggests that this is a cash grab.
“Songs of a Lost World”
The Cure never fit in, not even with the gothic-rock scene they helped inspire. Smith is as much a nihilistic as he is a hopeless romantic.
The album opener, “Alone”, is the classic Cure composition. It’s long, mysterious, melodically pleasing and stands by the idea that all is doomed to fail. It’s a song about crafting an identity for oneself, building a world where that identity can be revered and having it all disappear. Like the statue on the front cover being eroded by time, Smith won’t like to flatter himself into thinking that his songs will have a different fate.
There’s no attempt at scoring a hit single anymore, either, although The Cure enjoyed many of those beforehand. “And Nothing is Forever” is a beautiful piano-lead ballad about how even the greatest love affairs and the most wonderful memories are threatened by the demise of time. Rarely has Smith sung more beautifully.
“A Fragile Thing,” one of the early singles released from the album, and places Simon Gallups’ simple, melodic basslines at the forefront. The song recalls the trip-hop/rock sounds of the 90s while the words again deal with the brittle nature of dreams.
It’s the End of the World, and I Feel Terrible
In his own way, Robert Smith uses “Songs of a Lost World” to take aim at the world as much as at the nature of reality. “Warsong” plays with dissonance and textures that summon great chaos. “Drone: Nodrone” is another bass-heavy track in which Smith sounds positively angry as he talks about one’s identity being erased.
Smith and The Cure save their most bitterly beautiful moment for the Third Act. “I Can Never Say Goodbye” is a beautifully moody and sorrowful song about wanting to hold on to dreams, love affairs, and one’s identity. The punk-inspired “All I Ever Am” has something heroic about it as the group faces one last battle with the inevitable. It’s one of the album’s best performances.
Where does it all leave us? If time is to rob even the greats of the things that they built, of their dreams, of their loved ones, what’s left for all of us?
Surely, you’re not waiting for a happy ending. “Endsong proves that, on their own terms, Robert Smith and The Cure remained punks until the end. They followed their muse, rarely played to please, and never lost sight of the bitterness of the end. It’s the sound of a cataclysm, a gigantic, impersonal force wiping away everything in its path.
Robert Smith has never been angrier or more subtle in showing it. “Songs of a Lost World” is a revenge album. It’s one of the best that The Cure has made, and that’s far more than any of their many fans requested. We all just hope to have them around a while longer.