The Cure “Songs of a Lost World” 2024. Fiction Records on limited edition white vinyl. The Cure’s 14th studio LP after a 16 year break (though it was originally intended for release in 2019). Songs of a Lost World went to #1 in the UK and to #4 in the US (thought to #1 on the alternative chart) and was one of the top selling records of 2024 and received almost universal critical acclaim. It’s gorgeous, lushly gothic, atmospheric and amazing. They played a few of the tracks when we saw The Cure perform in Chicago in 2023, though I’ll admit to needing to look up the setlist as I clearly hadn’t heard any of the songs a year and a half ago. Those included the album (and concert) opener and first single “Alone,” “A Fragile Thing,” the epic “Endsong” and one of my top tracks from the album “And Nothing is Forever.”

The Cure, Chicago 2023

I also love the excruciating intensity of “Warsong,” the dark rock n’roll wardrum beat and licks of “Drone:Nodrone” (the only ass-shaker on the record) and the deep emotionality of “I Can Never Say Goodbye” which is about the death of Robert Smith’s brother: “It’s a very difficult song to sing. People say ‘cathartic’ too much, but it was. It allowed me to deal with it, and I think it’s helped me enormously.”