The Cure's First New Music in 16 Years Is On the Way

Six years after teasing new music, The Cure is finally ready. The new single, "Alone," representing the band's first new music in 16 years, will premiere on BBC Radio 6 before its release at 7am ET Thursday, per Pitchfork. Hear a snippet here. The Guardian describes it as "a symphonic ballad with heavy drums and lurching electric guitar, with frontman Robert Smith singing: 'This is the end of every song that we sing / the fire burned out to ash, the stars grow dim with tears.'" "Alone" will be the lead single on an upcoming album, Songs of a Lost World, per Pitchfork. The album doesn't have an official release date, though a poster in the British band's hometown of Crawley suggests it will be out Nov. 1.

Songs of a Lost World will be the first new album from the band since 2008's 4:13 Dream, which was not a commercial success, per Sky News. In 2014, The Cure teased a sequel, 4:14 Scream, but all that materialized was a cover of the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye." Songs of a Lost World will reportedly include songs recorded in 2019. Smith previously told Rolling Stone that the band recorded 19 lengthy songs that year. The music is "f---ing great," the frontman said at the time. "It's so dark. It's incredibly intense." (Keyboardist Roger O'Donnell announced a cancer diagnosis earlier this month.)