The Cure released their first new song in over a decade, ‘Alone,’ on September 26. Justin Hawkins analyzed the song and Robert Smith’s performance in a recent video on his YouTube channel, Justin Hawkins Rides Again.
“There’s sort of a tightness in his vocal,” the Darkness vocalist noted. “On some of their work, he’s kind of like really breathy, and it’s sort of semi-spoken almost, and there’s so much affectation in what he’s doing that it’s kind of like instantly recognizable, but this is actually a bit of what I lovingly refer to as singing.”
He explained, “You know, it’s more kind of – you can hear something that’s tucking the timbre of his voice. It’s actually a little bit Jeff Buckley. I mean I know he’s not exploring the same kind of ranges that Jeff Buckley would have done, but he’s not just emoting. He’s properly singing.”
‘Alone’ came out as the lead single from ‘Songs for a Lost World,’ The Cure’s first album in 16 years. “They’re doing something that nobody else can do,” Hawkins commented at the end of his video. “It’s this sort of pastoral, edgy, super dark, it’s poetry, and his voice sounds fucking awesome. So, congratulations. Enjoy The Cure.”
Robert Smith and the band teased the new album for years. They announced two finished albums in mid-2021 and later said one would arrive in September 2022 though the release faced delay.
The Cure went on their ‘Shows of a Lost World’ tour last year instead. They’re now waiting to release their fourteenth studio album on November 1 via Polydor, Fiction Records, and Capitol Records.