After years of teasers, snippets, lyric samples, and live performances, The Cure has finally released ‘Alone,’ their first single since 2008. It serves as the lead single for their 14th album, Songs of a Lost World, set to drop on November 1st. This single gives us our first major insight into whether this LP will be a sad, final attempt at success from one of the UK’s most iconic rock bands, or the beginning of a second wind, powered by the wisdom the band has gained over their time away from the studio.

“This extended introduction and its style harken back to the band’s earlier ’80s albums”

Many know The Cure for Robert Smith’s knack for writing catchy pop hits such as ‘Friday I’m in Love’ and ‘Boys Don’t Cry.’ However, if ‘Alone’ is anything to go by, this forthcoming project is likely to align with bleak records like Bloodflowers (2000) and Pornography (1982), which are melancholic, wistful explorations of existential issues – this gloomier side of the band is often more to the taste of Cure-heads.

Three of the seven minutes of this song are spent on a drawn-out instrumental introduction, held together by a fairly uninteresting Yamaha keyboard-esque string chord progression. The drum part forgoes hi-hats in favour of thunderous kick drum, snare, and cymbal hits. Quintessentially Cure-y synth and guitar lines dance over the top of the track, culminating in a pensive, yet epic atmosphere as the track stomps slowly along. As the melodies weave in and out during the introduction, there are moments when the strings are left isolated, giving the track a sparse quality and making the slower tempo feel like it’s dragging the song back. This extended introduction and its style harken back to the band’s earlier ’80s albums, where tracks like ‘Plainsong’ similarly took their time to build atmosphere. But at times during the first half of the song, you find yourself looking for something more interesting to sink your teeth into.

“I hope the band uses the time since their last albums to create something fresh”

That interesting thing arrives about halfway through the track when Smith’s vocals enter, surprisingly unchanged from his younger, trendier days. Smith delivers a trademark performance, showcasing his characteristic emotional intensity. Though his voice remains timeless, Smith doesn’t sound like he’s trying to relive his youth. For instance, on the track ‘One Hundred Years’ off the album Pornography, he opens with the line, “It doesn’t matter if we all die.” In contrast, the only refrain in this song is Smith tackling his mortality, howling, “Where did it go?”. This reflects both Smith’s reckoning with his own ageing since their last record and the poignant loss of his parents and brother in recent years. The track ends triumphantly, with icy synths and Smith’s vocal performance enhancing the richness of the sonic atmosphere. The atmosphere remains melancholic but takes on a more comforting quality.

So, what can we expect from the forthcoming album? Well, ‘Alone’ definitely confirms Smith’s words to Rolling Stone in 2019, when he said the album is “very much on the darker side of the spectrum,” later stating his ambition for creating a “big wash of sound,” an apt description of this track in particular. Cure-heads have welcomed the track with open arms, taking it as a sign that the album is a 2024 update of Disintegration. Personally, I hope the band uses the time since their last albums to create something fresh, rather than falling into the trap of producing weaker versions of their old songs, as is often the case with comeback albums. Although I have my criticisms of the track, it stands as one of the more successful returns to the circuit by a band which has significantly aged since its heyday. Whatever one thinks of The Cure and this song, we can, once again, conclude that these boys definitely do cry.