Songs of a Lost World

1978年結成、ロバート・スミスを中心とするイギリスを代表するバンドの1つ、ザ・キュアーが16年ぶりとなる14枚目のアルバム『Songs of A Lost World』をリリースすると発表した。アルバムリリースに先立ち、オープニング・トラックの「Alone」がリリースされている。

『Songs Of A Lost World』のオープニング・トラックを飾ることとなった「Alone」について、ロバート・スミスは以下のようにコメントしている。

「この曲はアルバムの鍵を解き放ってくれた曲です。曲の一部をレコーディングした瞬間、オープニング曲にふさわしいと確信し、アルバム全体のビジョンが見えてきたのを感じました。長らくの間、アルバムのオープニング曲にふさわしい歌詞を探すのに苦労していました。『孤独でいること』というシンプルなアイデアの軸で制作に取り組んでいましたが、いつも心の奥底では、最初のフレーズはすでに決まっているのではないかという気持ちがありました。レコーディングを終えた瞬間、英詩人のアーネスト・ダウスンの詩『Dregs』を思い出し、この曲、そしてこのアルバムが本物だと確信しました。」

アルバムの収録曲は、ザ・キュアーが90日間、33カ国で行った『Shows Of A Lost World』ツアーで先行披露され、同ツアーは130万人以上を動員し、圧倒的なファンと批評家の称賛を浴びている。

Songs of a Lost World, the 14th studio album from the Cure, might just be unprecedented. The statistical circumstances surrounding the album are unique: this is the first completely new material from an indescribably influential band in 16 years, arriving about five years after it was initially scheduled, and after the group had been regularly playing some of the songs at their consistently popular concerts for years. Its not the typical release schedule, even for a legacy act, but somewhere in the history of rock music there might be an exact analog. What really makes Songs of a Lost World atypical is how great it is. The eight songs that make up the album aspire to and often reach the same slow-moving grandeur of the Cures high-water mark album, 1989s Disintegration, only without any of the playful pop that snuck into that record and propelled the bands biggest singles. Themes of loss, isolation, impermanence, and mortality are all translated into Robert Smiths signature melodic melancholia, all of it delivered in deep, drawn-out, sweeping movements. The nearly seven-minute opener "Alone" sets the pace, with dense swirls of synths, simple, pounding drums, and the kind of lengthy building intro that the band perfected on some of their best songs. Its a solid three minutes before Smith starts singing, but the arrangement has forgotten about time by that point, creating an atmosphere thats hard not to get lost in. This atmosphere sustains for the albums duration. There are some spikes in energy like the tormented grooving of "Drone Nodrone" or the cinematic drive of "All I Ever Am," but even these outbursts dont stray too far from the concentrated whole that the album presents. The general path SoaLW takes is consistent throughout, whether manifesting as the creaky pump organ chords that begin the aching "Warsong" or the bittersweet collision of auburn-hued string arrangements and crunchy alt-rock guitars on "And Nothing Is Forever." Closer "Endsong" takes its time hammering the albums overarching feeling home with a ten-minute runtime that echoes peak moments of slow, sad beauty from the groups decorated past. This is the first Cure album written and arranged solely by Smith since 1985s The Head on the Door, and theres a similar color to the solitude he explores here. Its a win against slim odds that the band would make a solid, listenable album almost 50 years in, and with almost 20 of those passing since their last new set of songs. Songs of a Lost World isnt just an album of unlikely listenability, though. Its a new chapter late in the game so unexpectedly powerful that its nothing short of stunning, and just as unexpectedly, it ranks among the bands best work. ~ Fred Thomas