The legendary rock group’s frontman told NME that he has been spending the majority of 2020 finishing work on an upcoming record from the band as well as finalising his debut solo project. This will be The Cure’s first new output in over a decade.
Smith confessed that he owes his increased creativity, motivation, and productivity to this year’s lengthy lockdown period, but acknowledged that 2020 has not treated everyone so well. He said: ‘I feel really sorry for the people who had plans this year, it’s been a disaster. From my own perspective it’s great that we got so much done… [But] this year has just been – just not a year – it’s just been completely weird’.
The extra time which came with this year’s quarantine months has been something of a blessing for the group, especially Smith, who has had a great deal of work to do for some time, but few opportunities to get it done. On the agenda is the band’s new album (their first since 4:13 Dream in 2008), Smith’s solo record (which has been on the table since 2001), and a documentary film (produced by longtime collaborator Tim Pope).
The Cure’s most recent album, ‘4:13 Dream’, was released 12 years ago
On the group’s plans for the rest of 2020, Smith said: ‘Our whole idea for this year was really finishing off the album we started last year, me finishing off the solo album, and also finishing digitising decades of stuff in order to make this film with Tim Pope about the history of the band. So, it’s actually benefitted me because there have been no other distractions, so I’ve actually got a lot of what I wanted to do, done’.
The Cure revealed that their upcoming album is currently titled Live From The Moon (in celebration of the Apollo landing’s 50th anniversary in 2019), and has a ‘downbeat and heavy’ sound, the result of a recent family tragedy (Smith lost his parents and brother last year) and other experiences of ‘life’s darker side’.
The lead singer said: ‘I think I’m generally more of a balanced individual than I was 10 years ago…Before I used to write about stuff that I thought I understood. Now I know I understand it. The lyrics I’ve been writing for this album, for me personally, are more true. They’re more honest. That’s probably why the album itself is a little bit more doom and gloom. I feel I want to do something that expresses the darker side of what I’ve experienced over the last few years – but in a way that will engage people’.
Roger O’Donnell, the band’s keyboardist, said Live From The Moon is ‘going to be an amazing record’, but suggested that people be patient: ‘When you’ve got a back catalogue like The Cure, it’s a lot to live up to’. He agreed with Smith regarding the new album’s sound, saying it would be the group’s ‘most intense, saddest and most emotional record’.
Thank you, it’s very emotional https://t.co/GuT4p1tMpx
— Roger O’Donnell (@RogerODonnellX) August 27, 2020
O’Donnell revealed that the album was near completion, but that work would not be rushed. He assured fans that the end result would be ‘totally worth waiting for’. In the meantime, Robert Smith’s collaboration with Gorillaz, a ‘spooky’ new song called Strange Timez, is now available for all to enjoy. Live From The Moon can probably be expected to drop in late 2020 or early 2021.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
