The Cure have – finally – announced the release of ‘Songs of a Lost World’, their first album in 16 years. November 1 is the chosen date, as has been rumored. The first preview, ‘Alone’, is now available, as well as the pre-order of the album, which will go on sale in the usual formats, that is, CD, vinyl and cassette tape.
‘Alone’ is one of the new songs that The Cure played on their latest tour, and the official version premiered on BBC 6 at 12pm British time, 1pm Spanish time. It is one of those great ballads from The Cure, composed of a long, very long, instrumental introduction, after which Robert Smith joins in, and written around lyrics full of sorrow and restlessness at the end of youth and life. Smith sings of “hopes and dreams” that have “gone away” and the “ghosts we have been.” That the album comes out on Halloween and All Saints’ Day is no coincidence.
It is easy and lazy to compare ‘Alone’ with ‘Disintegration’ (1989), but the style of that album is very present in the arrangements of ‘Alone’, especially in the grandeur of the drums, which sound like they were produced in the 80s; and in the expansive sense of keyboards. If something differentiates ‘Alone’ from the proposal on that album, it is its use of distorted guitars, almost shoegaze or noise. In contrast, a piano drip emerges into the mix to alleviate the bleakness.
‘Alone’ seems, in any case, the perfect preview of an album that will deal -apparently- with themes such as mortality and the ephemeral nature of life, a theme very present both in the title of the album, which appeals to a “world lost”, as on its cover, which portrays the image of the ‘Bagatelle’, a 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat that shows a figure with a face eroded by time.
The Cure have been making the most of the lead-up to the announcement of their new album through endless teasers, for example, sending fans and media black cards with the album title, ‘Songs of a Lost World’, and the finally confirmed date. A WhatSapp channel has also been provided in which clues and previews have been posted.
Charging …