The Cure Return After 16 Year Absence With New Single ‘Alone’
Written by Cian Mortimer on 27th September 2024
The Cure, ‘Songs of a Lost World’
After 16 years, The Cure are back with their new single ‘Alone’. The legendary post-punk outfit premiered the first song off of their upcoming album Songs of a Lost World exclusively on BBC Radio 6.
The track opens in classic The Cure fashion, with a lengthy instrumental intro. As the first song on the album, it is a very atmospheric opener and reminiscent of Disintegration– the band’s magnum opus.
Any fears that vocalist Robert Smith may have grown rusty or lost his spark have surely been squashed now. This is a track that manages to capture the essence of the band’s heyday, without falling into the trap of feeling tired or rehashed.
On the live premiere broadcast, Alone was followed straight away by Fascination Street. The two songs flowed into each other without missing a beat.
Alone is a track that I could hear slotting seamlessly onto Disintegration without seeming the slightest bit out of place. I do not think there’s much higher praise I can pay to a track by The Cure.
Another aspect that is quite incredible is how well Smith’s vocal ability has held up. At the age of 65, Smith stills sounds as young as he did 45 years ago when The Cure released their debut album.
Smith told BBC Radio 6: “Alone is the track that unlocked the record. As soon as we heard that piece of music recorded, I knew it was the opening song and I felt the whole album come into focus. I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while, working with this simple idea of being alone always in the back of my mind.”
When Smith’s vocals do come in, the opening line is one which will carry a lot of weight for long-time fans of The Cure: “This is the end of every song that we sing.”
Fans have long debated whether this album, which has been years in the making, would be the band’s last. While the album’s opening track seems to hint that it may be, this wouldn’t be the first of flirting with retirement.
As far as back as 1982, during the release of the band’s fourth album Pornography, they talked about packing it in. Despite that, here we are nine albums and 42 years later. As the years pass by though, the threat is starting to feel a lot more real.
The roll-out of the new album to-date have been quite mysterious and cryptic. From sending out postcards to fans and launching the album on the side of the Crawley pub where they played their first gig to teasing the lead single on their website and through WhatsApp, The Cure have kept fans guessing with all these teasers.
The new album has been revealed to be eight tracks long. This feels a bit on the short side from a band like The Cure. If ‘Alone’ is anything to go by though, it will be eight tracks of the highest quality.
‘Alone’ is available to stream on all major streaming services right now. The Cure’s 14th studio album ‘Songs of a Lost World’ will be available from November 1st. Fans can pre-order the album now from the band’s website.
