The Cure's Songs Of A Lost World: album release date, tracks and more

12 September 2024, 14:38 | Updated: 12 September 2024, 15:05

Robert Smith and co's first album in over 15 years is set to be released any day soon... but how much do we know about it already?

1. What is The Cure's new album called?

   In the summer of 2019, Robert Smith claimed that the new album was to be named "Live From The Moon", inspired by the 50th anniversary of the moon landings. However, at the Ivor Novelllo Awards cremony in May 2022, Smith revealed that the title was now Songs Of A Lost World. The band's 2022 and 2023 tours have been similarly titled "Shows Of A Lost World".

   

2. Does The Cure's Songs Of A Lost World album have a release date?

   On 9th September 2024, The Cure's official website and social media channels updated the band's logo, leading many fans to wonder if an announcement of new material was imminent.

   On 12th September, a poster on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum reported that they'd received "a plain black postcard sized envelope today with my name and address in silver writing.

   "Inside was what looked like a blank black postcard. Good quality card. Noticed the tiniest embossed writing on it...a bit scattered..

   "Took a while - it reads "songs [of] a lost world"

   "At the bottom - in roman numerals is the date 1/11/24"

   Could this mean a 1st of November 2024 release date for The Cure's Songs From A Lost World? Or will this be the day when the album details will be revealed?

   The Cure - Songs From a Lost World out on Nov. 1st?
   From the Steve Hoffman Music Forum.https://t.co/6uH1clpOtS pic.twitter.com/clzM00527s

   — Chain of Flowers (@CraigatCoF) September 12, 2024

   The change in band logo followed a post from Robert Smith thanking fans for supporting the release of a charity 12" single featuring two new songs, recorded live in 2022.

   In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the frontman said: "ALL COPIES OF THE VINYL ARE NOW SOLD OUT AND @NAKEDRECORDCLUB WILL BEGIN SENDING ON 1ST OCTOBER... AND THEN..." It's pretty safe to say that Songs Of A Lost World is likely to see a 2025 release date, but nothing has been officially confirmed.

   THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO BOUGHT 'NOVEMBRE: LIVE IN FRANCE 2022' IN AID OF @EARTHPERCENT - ALL COPIES OF THE VINYL ARE NOW SOLD OUT AND @NAKEDRECORDCLUB WILL BEGIN SENDING ON 1ST OCTOBER... AND THEN...

   — ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) August 30, 2024

3. What has Robert Smith said about Songs Of A Lost World?

   In August 2019, Smith told the Los Angeles Times: “I keep going back over and redoing them, which is silly. At some point, I have to say that’s it."

   He admitted the sound of the album had been affected by family bereavements: “It’s very much on the darker side of the spectrum. I lost my mother and my father and my brother recently, and obviously it had an effect on me.

   “It’ll be worth the wait. I think it’s the best thing we’ve done, but then I would say that. A lot of the songs are difficult to sing, and that’s why it’s taken me a while."

   

   In July 2020, keyboard player Roger O'Donnell told Classic Pop magazine: "Four years ago, I said to Robert, 'We have to make one more record. It has to be the most intense, saddest, most dramatic and most emotional record we've ever made, and then we can just walk away from it.' He agreed. Listening to the demos, it is that record. I think everybody will be happy with it.

   "The problem is, when you've got a back catalogue like The Cure, it's a lot to live up to. Robert has said, 'If The Cure say any more, it had better be important and it had better be f***ing good'. It is, it's going to be an amazing record. I just suggest a little patience."

   Speaking to The Sunday Times in June 2021, Smith claimed that this may be the very last Cure album: “The new stuff is very emotional. It’s 10 years of life distilled into a couple of hours of intense stuff. I can’t think we’ll ever do anything else. I definitely can’t do this again.”

   The same month, Smith also repeated the claim to Apple Music 1 that the band had recorded enough songs for two albums: "One of them’s very, very doom and gloom and the other one isn’t."

4. Have The Cure played any new songs from the album?

   The autumn of 2022 saw The Cure head out on a European tour and the first show in Latvia on 6th October saw the debut of the new tracks Alone and Endsong.

   

   The Cure - Alone - World Premiere, New Song - October 6, 2022 - Riga - Songs Of A Lost World - HD

   

   The Cure - Endsong (2022-10-06 Riga)

   Four days later, in Stockholm, fans were treated to another new song, And Nothing Is Forever.

   

   The Cure - And Nothing Is Forever (World Premiere) @ Avicii Arena Stockholm October 10 2022

   On 20th October in Kraków, Poland, the band debuted I Can Never Say Goodbye at the start of the first encore. Smith explained that it was about his brother, Richard, who had died recently and, according to Robert, had lived in Poland for a number of years. It was Richard's participation in a local collective with the unlikely name of The Crawley Goat Band that really sparked Robert's interest in performing music.

   

   The Cure - I Can Never Say Goodbye (Kraków, Poland 20.10.2022) NEW SONG / WORLD PREMIERE

   At a show in Milan on 4th November, there was the world premiere of A Fragile Thing.

   

   A FRAGILE THING - The Cure *New song* Milano 4.11.2022

5. When did The Cure last release an album?

   The last official Cure studio album was 4:13 Dream, issued in October 2008. It was the band's 13th LP (hence the name), meaning it will be a full 15 years between that release and Songs Of A Lost World.

   

   The Cure's studio album discography to date has been:

   • Three Imaginary Boys (11th May 1979)
   • Seventeen Seconds (18th April 1980)
   • Faith (18th April 1981)
   • Pornography (4th May 1982)
   • The Top (4th May 1984)
   • The Head On The Door (30th August 1985)
   • Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (26th May 1987)
   • Disintegration (2nd May 1989)
   • Wish (21st April 1992)
   • Wild Mood Swings (6th May 1996)
   • Bloodflowers (14th February 2000)
   • The Cure (28th June 2004)
   • 4:13 Dream (27th October 2008)