The end of the world has never sounded so beautiful

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This is a forceps delivery. But it's worth the wait. Songs of a Lost World is a top contender for album of the year.

Stefan Künzli / ch media

It's been sixteen years since The Cure's last album. In entertaining pop music, that's timeless. But the creative dry spell for the band surrounding singer Robert Smith lasted much longer, 32 years. 1992's The Wish concluded a series of outstanding and influential albums. But since then, the band has been trying to get back to their heyday, without success.

Oddly, this doesn't change the good reputation The Cure maintains in a wide range of circles to this day. The 2022 Lost World Tour takes the band to the biggest stages in the world, attracting huge crowds. The Cure have become a multi-generational band, but still owe a lot. The most recent was 2008's tense, lackluster “4:13.”

Now this is all coming to an end. at last. The new album “Songs of a Lost World” is a success. This is a forceps delivery. Bandleader Smith has been talking about a new album for six years. But the book's publication has been repeatedly delayed. The Lost World Tour was actually about the release of Songs from the Lost World. After all, some new songs are already out there.

Personal tragedy can inspire creativity

But now that it's done, it was worth the wait. In the video posted, Smith explained that some personal events got in the way and delayed the release. His brother died, as did all his remaining aunts and uncles. As is often the case in the history of pop and rock music, personal misfortunes lead to artistic heights. Smith's personal tragedy did seem to inspire and fuel his creative spirit.

He dedicated the deeply moving “I Can Never Say Goodbye” to his brother. The song starts off sweetly, with piano accompaniment throughout. “There's something evil coming to take my brother's life,” he sings in one of the most personal songs Smith has ever sung. A noisy guitar slides in, drowning out the piano pattern until it's almost gone.

Robert Smith's music has always been about people and their relationship to the world. In this respect, his personal mood can be conveyed to the world. Private issues are reflected in the state of the world.

There is no hope anymore

Smith is more direct in “War Hymn,” saying, “I want you dead. You want my life. Because we were born for war.” As the music moves forward in slow motion, menacing, dissonant The sound of guitars created a din. This is a recurring musical technique on Songs of a Lost World, with warm keyboard and piano playing contrasting with heavy drum beats and terrifying guitar distortion and feedback noise.

Robert Smith has always been a master of capturing absolute despair. In The Cure's universe, pain, depression, and darkness wage an eternal battle against love, longing, and euphoria. But Smith has now moved beyond that status. “The answers I got weren’t the answers I wanted,” the doomsayer sings on “Drone Nodrone.” There is no hope for treatment. “We celebrate our emptiness with bitter scum,” says opener “Alone,” which establishes the album’s emotional direction. «This is where love, so much love, disappears from our lives. Hopes and dreams were gone. “

Trendsetters would have us believe that song intros have become less important in the streaming age. The Cure, who have always focused on the art of intro, bucked the trend and proved the opposite in “Songs of a Lost World”. During their five to ten minute long songs, the intros get longer. The shortest intro is 50 seconds, while on “Endsong” it takes over six minutes to start with the vocals. Cure takes time, the atmosphere should slowly build, affect the listener, burn and resonate. Wonderful.

Facing one's own shortcomings

Robert Smith, 65, faces his own transience. “I know, I know, my world has gotten old,” he sings in his distinctively plaintive voice on “And Nothing Is Forever.” The man who steadfastly refused to grow up seemed to have skipped the adult world and faced death. “I wonder what happened to that boy. And the world he called his own. Everything was gone, everything I loved was gone,” he sings on “Endsong.”

It was 12 to 5 for Robert Smith and his men. It’s the soundtrack to a lost world. A world on the edge with no turning back. After all: the music is imbued with intense melancholy and creates an irresistible pull, and the coming apocalypse has never sounded so good. And The Cure has found its way back to artistic creativity and making sense again. Thirty years later, the band confirms the importance it once held. “Songs of a Lost World” belongs on every album of the year list.

Cure: Song of the Lost World (universal). Appears on November 1st. (aargauerzeitung.ch)

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