British Broadcasting CorporationCure frontman Robert Smith says songs from the show’s new album Songs Of A Lost World have helped him cope with the grief of losing close family members in recent years.
He told BBC Radio 6 Music’s Hugh Stephens that singing live was a “huge catharsis” for him to escape the “doom and gloom”.
“You suddenly feel something. You feel a connection,” he added. “That’s why I still do it…the communal moments with the crowd. It’s really, really beautiful.”
The orchestra performed a live performance at the BBC Radio Theater on Wednesday before playing a Radio 2 In Concert to a small audience.
The London show includes performances of “Alone” – the band’s first new music in 16 years, and the lead single from “Songs Of A Lost World”, released this Friday.
The long-awaited record, the follow-up to 2008 album 4:13 Dream, has been in the works since the band’s 40th anniversary show in 2019.
Smith expressed relief at completing the process, telling Stephens that as he got older, it became more difficult to complete lyrics that he felt were valuable.
“One of the things I find harder and harder to do as I get older is to write the lyrics that I want to sing. I can write the lyrics, but I really don’t want to sing them.
“So it became very, very difficult to get to the point where I thought it was worth singing these songs,” he said.
He revealed that his wife Mary, whom he met in middle school, helped him finalize the album’s tracklist, insisting he balance the dark depths.
“I’m finishing the doom and gloom stuff… [Mary] Say no, no, no, your best albums are the ones with just a few… more upbeat tracks. She is right.
“I wanted to do everything because I thought it was fair to all the songs, like they were all for little kids – I didn’t want to pick favorites.”
Originally formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1978, The Cure remain alternative rock’s gothic icons – lyrics expressing love, angst and sadness amid a kaleidoscope of melodies.
Getty ImagesFrom the rock sparseness of their early years – which separated the post-punk melancholy of Joy Division and the remnants of David Bowie’s Low era – they grew into indie-pop heavyweights of the late ’80s – defined by the Smiths’ melancholy.
The era spawned a number of UK top ten singles, including “Lullaby” and “Friday I’m In Love” – one of the best-known songs from the band’s 1992 chart-topping album Wish.
Guitarist and main songwriter Smith remains the band’s only regular member, followed by long-time bassist Simon Gallup.
Reeves Gabrels and Perry Bamote are currently touring on guitar, with Jason Cooper on drums and Roger O’Donnell on keyboards.
But Smith’s stamp is dominant on Songs of A Lost World, the band’s 14th album.
The song, which was written in 2010, has been given a personal feel by the events of recent years, with Smith mourning the loss of family members, including his late brother Richard.
His death inspired the song “I Can Never Say Goodbye” – a window into grief, frustration and regret.
When the song appeared on last year’s tour of New Songs, Smith often struggled to finish it without being overwhelmed by emotion. He told Stephens that “performing the numbers night after night” eventually became “a wonderful moment.”
Speaking to Matt Everett in the latest Uncut magazine interview published on the band’s YouTube channel, Smith explained that these real-life touchstones defined the record and set it apart from earlier albums Come.
“When you are young, you are romantic [death]even if you don’t know. And then it starts happening to your immediate family and friends, and suddenly it’s different,” he said.
“That’s what I struggled with lyrically: How do I fit that into a song? I feel like I’m different than I was the last time we made an album. I hope that comes through.”
This sense of vulnerability and awareness of mortality runs throughout, and Smith, now 65, faces the passage of time with a new sense of urgency.
It’s as dark and atmospheric as 1982’s Pornography and 1989’s critically acclaimed The Unraveling. However, Songs of A Lost World is much shorter, with only eight tracks, almost half the length of these albums.
Reviews from critics were positive, praising Song of the Lost World as a return to form.
The Telegraph awarded it five starsNeil McCormick described it as “perversely exhilarating in its nihilism and the best thing to happen since their debut”. Four-star rating from The Guardian Praising the record’s introspective depth, particularly how it addresses “Smith’s own ego issues.”
“It seems to be falling apart,” wrote Kitty Empire, although fans were left with a clear image of one of the iconic figures of British rock. She also highlighted the unexpected pop song “Drone: Nodrone” – one of Marie’s greatest hits – as the album’s “crown glory”.
These themes culminate in the album’s closer, Endsong, an 11-minute epic that became a highlight of the band’s Radio 2 In Concert performance on Wednesday and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2, iPlayer and BBC Two this Saturday broadcast.
Guitars surround a pounding, slow drum beat that builds into a fully formed crescendo of swirling tones and relentless bass hooks, akin to 1992’s Cut.
In the lyrics, Smith looks back on his life, “remembering my hopes and dreams”; wondering what happened to this “little boy” and how he “got so old.”
It may be classic melancholy on paper, but in life it sounds equally brutally honest, unapologetic rage and resignation.
Elsewhere, the mood was celebratory and lively: packed with fan favorites and biggest hits, from the languid heartbreak of “Pictures of You” to “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven” of pop music.
The band itself was in good spirits, smiling at each other, and Smith dancing playfully during the encore of “Close To Me” and “Lullaby.”
It’s perhaps unsurprising to be delighted to be faced with new material that, in places, sounds darker than ever before.
In 1983, the 25-year-old Smith told NME: “I hate putting a fixed time on my career. I think it’s terrible. I think it’s because I’m getting older and I feel older.”
Smith recently Recommend to The Times The band will likely end around its 50th anniversary in 2029, when he will turn 70.
In an interview with Stephens, he laughed dryly and said he “won’t reach” that milestone age and instead would be “very happy” to see Christmas.
But Smith told Uncut that after a productive recording session in 2019, the band’s three albums are nearly complete.
He added to Stephens that he was “almost done” with his second album. “Once I’m done with it, I take a deep breath and look up, but until I’m done, I’m not worried about what’s going to happen next.”
Time waits for no one, but Smith and The Cure certainly won’t sit still.
settings list
Radio 2 Concert:
- alone
- your photos
- fragile things
- high
- such a night
- love song
- pedestrian mall
- the days in between
- just like heaven
- From the edge of the deep green ocean
- last son
Encore
- lullaby
- Friday I’m in love
- close to me
- Why can’t I be you?
BBC Radio 6 music program
- flat song
- last dance
- i can never say goodbye
- burn
- nothing is forever
- night
- a forest
- everything i have ever been
- pray for rain
- disintegration
