Songs of a Lost World is the fourteenth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 1 November 2024. It is the band’s first release of new material in 16 years since the release of Dream in 2008. All the songs on the album were composed solely by singer/guitarist Robert Smith, for the first time since the 1985 album The Head on the Door. It is also their first studio album to feature Reeves Gabrels although he was previously featured on the band’s 1997 single “Wrong Number”.
Upon release, the album received critical acclaim, with particular praise for the lyrics, dark sound, and Smith’s vocals.
Songs of a Lost World was several years in the making, and is the Cure’s first studio album since Dream in 2008. The album was originally intended for release in 2019. It is the band’s first full-length album to feature Reeves Gabrels on guitar since he joined as a full time member in 2012. It also features the studio return of keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, who rejoined the band in 2011 after a six-year hiatus.
Five of the album’s songs, including “Alone”, had been performed live in 2022 and 2023 during their Shows of a Lost World worldwide tour.
Multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte rejoined the band in 2022 for that tour, but does not appear on the album because most of the recording was completed in 2019.
The songs were entirely written, composed, and arranged by Robert Smith. During the writing process, Smith had difficulty “find[ing] the right imagery” for the lyrics to “Alone”, ultimately finding inspiration from the Ernest Dowson poem “Dregs”.
Smith chose Bagatelle, a 1975 sculpture by Slovenian artist Janez Pirnat, to illustrate the sleeve.The album cover was then designed by Andy Vella.
The album booklet contains lyrics to an unreleased song, “Bodiam Sky,” which was originally intended to conclude the album. Robert Smith noted in an interview prior to the album’s release that the song may feature on the follow-up album to Songs of a Lost World.