The Cure Share Poignant New Single “Alone” — New Album “Songs Of A Lost World” Officially Announced

Today marks the monumental release of “Alone,” The Cure’s first new song in 16 years, which premiered on Mary Anne Hobbs’s BBC Radio 6 Music show. The track serves as the lead single from their eagerly awaited album, Songs Of A Lost World, and has been met with fervent excitement, especially after a 30-second teaser was shared last week via the band’s Songs Of A Lost World website and their WhatsApp channel.

The existential dirge “Alone” clocks in at nearly seven minutes, and it feels more like a deep cut designed for diehard Cure fans than a radio-friendly single. Its ghostly textures slowly unravel before Robert Smith’s unmistakable voice enters around the halfway mark, delivering the haunting line the band has long been teasing: “This is the end of every song that we sing.” The track evokes the mood of Lost Wishes and the haunting elegance of Disintegration, leaning into The Cure’s more cinematic and atmospheric side. Enveloped in a brooding, slow-burning atmosphere, “Alone” conjures a sense of introspection, carried by mournful keys, a crawling tempo, and the band’s signature melancholic guitar tones.

On the significance of “Alone,” Smith revealed in a statement, “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.” He added, “I had been struggling to find the right opening line for a while, working with the simple idea of ‘being alone,’ always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be.”

That clarity came after a sudden memory of the poem Dregs by the English poet Ernest Dowson, which Smith credits for bringing the song—and the entire album—into sharp focus: “As soon as we finished recording, I remembered the poem, and that was the moment I knew the song—and the album—were real.”

Watch the lyric video for “Alone” below:

The anticipation surrounding “Alone”—and indeed the album itself—has been building since The Cure’s 2022-2023 tour, where they performed the song live to sold-out audiences eager for the new material. The song served as the opener for those shows, casting a melancholic spell from the start. That Smith chose to lead with “Alone” during those performances feels significant; it’s an invitation back into The Cure’s world, where loss, longing, and memory wax and wane in endless, mournful loops.

The band has also confirmed that their 14th studio album, Songs Of A Lost World, will be released on November 1st. The full tracklisting and more details will be unveiled via their website and social media channels in the coming weeks.

The album Songs Of A Lost World was written and arranged by Robert Smith, produced and mixed by Smith and Paul Corkett, who also produced Bloodflowers, and recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales.

Smith also crafted the visual concept for the album, with art direction and design by longtime Cure collaborator Andy Vella. The cover art features Bagatelle, a 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat, which can be seen slowly being pulled toward the moon in the lyric video for “Alone.” 

The album will be available in an impressive array of formats: a standard single LP, a Miles Showell Abbey Road half-speed master double LP, marble-colored single LP, double cassette, CD, a deluxe CD package that includes a Blu-ray featuring an instrumental version of the record, a Dolby Atmos mix, and digital formats.

The album is now available for pre-order here.

Lyrically, “Alone” touches on themes of finality and loss with devastating poignancy. The Cure’s signature existential despair is at its peak here, as Smith sings:

“This is the end of every song that we sing
The fire burned out to ash
And the stars grown dim with tears
Cold and afraid
The ghosts of all that we’ve been
We toast with bitter dregs
To our emptiness.”

The song’s lyrics reflect a somber reckoning with the passage of time, unfulfilled dreams, and the inevitable end of everything, themes that have long been woven into The Cure’s music, but perhaps never with such palpable gravity.

As the anticipation continues to build for Songs Of A Lost World, “Alone” serves as a powerful reminder that The Cure, even after decades in the game, can still craft songs with immense gravitational pull.

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