English goth rockers The Cure are back with their first new song in 16 years: ‘Alone’.
It’s an almost-7-minute-long track, harking back to the sound of their classic ’80s and ’90s records, Disintegration and Wish.
With an atmospheric synth line and angular lead guitar, the song is haunted by frontman Robert Smith’s voice, which comes in after the 3-minute mark: “This is the end of every song that we sing / The fire burned out to ash and the stars grown dim with tears.”
Alone’ is the opening track from The Cure’s forthcoming record, Songs of a Lost World, due out November 1. It’s produced by Smith and Paul Corkett, who produced 2000’s Bloodflowers.
It’s their 14th studio record since they formed 46 years ago, in 1978, and their first new album since 2008’s 4:13 Dream, which reached #30 on the ARIA charts.
It’s been a long time coming: Smith has been teasing a new record since as far back as 2019. In 2021, he told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe the band was on the cusp of releasing two new albums: “One of them’s very, very doom and gloom and the other one isn’t.”
Like poetry
Smith says of ‘Alone’: “It’s the track that unlocked the record; as soon as we had that piece of music recorded, I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus.”
