Album of the Year 2024 goes to The Cure for Songs of a Lost World, an outstanding return to form after 16 years. This reviewer has come a long way with The Cure since Seventeen Seconds (1980) and Pornography (1982). Songs of a Lost World reminds us of The Cure’s high point with distinctly dark Disintegration, released in 1989. The album is dark and weary yet rasping and interesting lyrically. It deals with Robert Smith’s mortality and that of his family. Highlights on the album include all 10 minutes and 23 seconds of Endsong and a lament to Robert’s lost brother, Richard, in I Can Never Say Goodbye. This reviewer’s favourite track is, randomly, Drone:NoDrone. No, I don’t know what it’s about!
