CURE (THE) – Songs Of A Lost World – LP – 6803377

Songs of a Lost World may be going nowhere fast, but that doesn’t mean it’s going nowhere. “Alone,” the opening song, is an object lesson in the way rock music can age gracefully. Reeves Gabrels’ gloriously jagged guitar pulls at the hair of Jason Cooper’s stadium drum thump while ethereal keyboard lines keep gentle watch. It’s an epic, thunderclouds-over-the-mountaintop production that shuns the callous energy of youth in favor of sober reflection, wrapped up in a beautifully pensive chord progression. When Robert Smith finally steps to the mic, three minutes in, and proclaims, “This is the end/Of every song that we sing,” it feels apocalyptically right, like the odd comfort of having your worst fear realized.

Ben Cardew / Pitchfork