Robert Smith of The Cure Finds Solace in Live Performances of New Album Amidst Grief

The Cure frontman Robert Smith has stated that performing songs from the band’s recently released album, Songs Of A Lost World, has aided him in coping with the sorrow of losing close family members in recent years. In a conversation with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 6 Music, he described singing live as “hugely cathartic” for escaping the “doom and gloom” he experienced. He further elaborated, “You just suddenly feel something. You feel connection,” adding, “And that’s the reason why I still do it… that communal moment with a crowd. There’s something really, really wonderful about it.” The band conducted a live session before also presenting a Radio 2 In Concert set to a limited audience at the BBC Radio Theatre on Wednesday. The London performance featured Alone – the group’s first new music in 16 years and the lead single from Songs Of A Lost World, which is set to be released this Friday. This highly anticipated record follows 2008’s 4:13 Dream and has been in development since 2019, subsequent to the band’s 40th anniversary shows. Smith expressed relief at the completion of the process, telling Stephens that crafting song lyrics he considers worthy has become more challenging with age. He remarked, “It’s the one thing that as I’ve grown older, I’ve found much much harder to do – write words that I want to sing. I can write words but I don’t really feel like singing them. “So to arrive at that point where I think that it’s worth singing these songs, it has become really, really hard,” he conveyed. He disclosed that his wife Mary, whom he met at secondary school, assisted him in finalizing the album’s tracklist, insisting on a balance in the intensity of its dark themes. Smith recalled, “I was finishing the doom and gloom ones… and [Mary] said no, no, no your best albums are the ones that just have a couple of… more upbeat tracks. She was right.” He continued, “I wanted to finish everything, because I thought that’s only fair to all the songs, like they’re all little children – I don’t want to pick favourites.” Formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1978, The Cure continues to be recognized as alternative rock’s goth icons, presenting lyrics of love, angst, and desolation against a diverse array of melodies. From their early years of sparse rock, drawing from the remnants of Joy Division’s post-punk gloom and David Bowie’s Low era, they evolved into prominent indie-pop artists in the late 1980s, characterized by Smith’s melancholic style. This period yielded several UK top 10 singles, including Lullaby and Friday I’m In Love – one of the band’s most recognized tracks from their chart-topping 1992 album, Wish. Smith, as guitarist and principal songwriter, remains the band’s sole constant member, with long-time bassist Simon Gallup being the next longest-serving member. Reeves Gabrels and Perry Bamote are currently touring on guitar, with Jason Cooper on drums and Roger O’Donnell on keyboard. However, Smith’s creative influence is dominant on Songs Of A Lost World – the band’s 14th album. While featuring songs composed as far back as 2010, recent life events have imbued it with a personal quality, as Smith mourns the loss of family members, including his late brother, Richard. Richard’s death inspired the track I Can Never Say Goodbye – offering a glimpse into grief-stricken frustration and regret. When the track was incorporated into new songs for last year’s tour, Smith frequently struggled to complete it without being overwhelmed by emotion. He informed Stephens that performing the track on stage “night after night” eventually became a “wonderful moment.” Speaking to Matt Everitt in an interview for the latest issue of Uncut magazine, which has since been published on the band’s YouTube channel, Smith explained that these real-life experiences came to define the record and distinguish it from earlier albums. He stated, “When you’re younger, you romanticise [death], even without knowing it. Then it starts happening to your immediate family and friends and suddenly it’s a different thing.” He added, “It’s something that I struggled with lyrically: how to put this into the songs? I feel like I am different person than I was when we last made an album. I wanted that to come through.” This pervasive sense of fragility and awareness of mortality runs throughout, as Smith, now 65, confronts the passage of time with a renewed urgency. Its darkness and atmospherics echo 1982’s Pornography and 1989’s critically-acclaimed Disintegration. Nevertheless, Songs Of A Lost World is significantly shorter, with only eight tracks – almost half the runtime of the latter and the band’s more recent albums. Reviews from critics have been positive, hailing Songs Of A Lost World as a return to form. The Telegraph awarded five stars, with Neil McCormick describing it as “perversely uplifting in its nihilism and the best thing since their debut.” The Guardian’s four-star review commended the record’s introspective depth, particularly its engagement with “the question of Smith’s own selfhood.” Kitty Empire wrote that it “seems to be fracturing,” despite fans’ supposed clear image of one of British rock’s iconic figures. She also highlighted the “unexpected pop banger,” Drone: Nodrone – one of Mary’s selections – as the album’s “crowning glory.” These themes culminate in the album’s closer, Endsong, an 11-minute epic that stood out as a highlight of the band’s Radio 2 In Concert performance on Wednesday – broadcast on BBC Radio 2, iPlayer, and BBC Two this Saturday (21:10 GMT). Constructed around a heavy, slow drum beat, the guitars build in a crescendo of whirling tones and persistent bass hooks, similar to 1992’s Cut. Lyrically, it portrays Smith reflecting on his own life, “remembering the hopes and dreams I had”; pondering what “became of that boy,” and how he “got so old.” While appearing as classic melancholy on paper, live it sounds brutally honest, unapologetically raging, and resigned in equal measure. Elsewhere, the atmosphere of the set was celebratory and very much alive: filled with fan favorites and greatest hits, from the languid heartbreak of Pictures of You to the poppier sounds of Inbetween Days and Just Like Heaven. The band members themselves also appeared in good spirits, exchanging smiles, with Smith playfully dancing during the encore that included Close To Me and Lullaby. Joy in the presence of new material that, in parts, sounds darker than ever should perhaps come as no surprise. “I’ve hated the idea of having a set time for a career”, Smith told the NME in 1983 as he turned 25. “I think it’s terrible. I suppose it’s because I’m getting older and feeling my age.” Smith recently suggested to The Times that the band might conclude its activities around their 50th anniversary in 2028, by which time he will be approximately 70. Speaking to Stephens, he implied, with a dry laugh, that he’s “not going to get” to that milestone age and would instead be “really happy” to see Christmas. However, Smith informed Uncut that the band has three albums nearing completion following their intensely productive 2019 recording sessions. He added to Stephens that he’s “almost there” with the second album. “Once I’ve done that, then I shall take a deep breath and then I’ll look up, but until I finish it I’m not bothering about what comes next.” Time waits for no-one, but Smith and The Cure are certainly not ready to stand still. Radio 2 In Concert:EncoreBBC Radio 6 Music sessionCopyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.