Eighties Cure is back. The Cure’s long awaited album Songs of a Lost World brings the best sounds of Disintegration and Wish back to life. Though the band released live and greatest hit albums in the past 16 years, they haven’t released a brand new record since the 2008 album, 4:13 Dream. 

Following their 2023 North American tour, according to Billboard the band’s highest grossing tour to date, The Cure is on a roll. After the slump of 4:13 Dream and The Cure, Songs of a Lost World proves that The Cure has still got it. With members in their 50’s and 60’s and a band formed in 1976, it would be hard to imagine that they would still be as good as they were in 1989. Still, somehow, they’re back to their prime.

The album features singles “Alone” and “A Fragile Thing,” which were released on streaming services in September and October, along with “I Can Never Say Goodbye” and “And Nothing Is Forever,” which were released as vinyl singles in October. The album sounds recognizable to those who attended the 2023 Shows of a Lost World tour, as many of the songs were debuted on tour.

There’s only eight songs on the album, so it’s a short piece. But as classic Cure goes, of course there is a 10-minute-long, emotionally debilitating song on the album. “Endsong” closes feeling hopeless and encapsulates the album perfectly.

Frontman and vocalist Robert Smith said the album was inspired by the “experience of life’s darker side,” and the deaths of his mother, father and brother. The Cure debuted “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” a song about the death of Smith’s brother, on their recent tour. 

“Drone:Nodrone” stands out from the rest of the album as instrumentally dynamic and fairly upbeat, contradicting the song’s existential nature. It sounds like it could be part of Wish, fitting perfectly between “Wendy Time” and “Doing the Unstuck.” “A Fragile Thing” scratches an itch in the listener’s brain as well, a catchy rock song with The Cure’s classic sound.

At its surface level, “Warsong” is about a personal falling out, but expands its meaning to the greater good of people, with lyrics like “All we will ever know/ Is bitter ends/ For we are born to war.” 

Songs of a Lost World leaves you wanting more, and Smith said there’s more to come before the band calls it quits (if they’re serious about it this time). The Cure still has more to offer, and listeners are ready for it.

5 lost worlds out of 5