Robert Smith has explained the profound coincidence and death behind the cover artwork for The Cure‘s new album, ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.
The band are set to release their long-awaited 14th studio record – the follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’ – on November 1. Smith and co. have already shared the singles ‘Alone’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.
Back in 2019, the frontman said the new LP had been shaped by his “experience of life’s darker side” following the deaths of his mother, father and brother.
During a lengthy new interview about ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, Smith revealed how the official album artwork came to be. He had been given a book by Slovenian sculptor Janez Pirnat in January 2021, which remained unopened until he opened it by chance one day.
“I saw this of this head, it’s kind of like it’s emerging from rock, and there’s something about it. I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s the album cover’. It struck me,” Smith told Matt Everitt. “Things like that sort of happen: ‘That’s the image I want, I don’t know why’. I thought, ‘I’d better find it if he’d let me use it’.
“I opened the [laptop] lid up, looked him up online, and he’d died that day. Janez Pirnat had actually died the day I looked him up! I don’t normally buy into this, ‘Oh, it was meant to be’ – but it was a very strange coincidence, which cemented the idea that this has got to be the album cover.”
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He continued: “I got in touch with his widow eventually and actually ended up with the sculpture itself; I actually have it at home. It’s a fantastic sculpture.
“People that see it and hear the album think it works as well. There’s this connection. I think it’s because it’s ‘The Lost World’. It’s done by hand, it’s taken a lot of care, a lot of work, and a lot of thought. It’s a beautiful object and just resonates with me.”
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging conversation, Smith explained that The Cure have another new album in the works that’s “virtually finished”, with a third record in the pipeline too. He also shared his plans for a world tour in 2025 and spoke about the band’s upcoming 50th anniversary.
Additionally, he revealed that he thought the band would part ways after their headline performance at Hyde Park in 2018 and said that dynamic ticket pricing is a “scam” that’s “driven by greed”.
Another part of the chat saw Smith open up about penning the track ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ about his brother’s passing.
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In a five-star review of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, NME wrote: “Merciless? Yes, but there’s always enough heart in the darkness and opulence in the sound to hold you and place these songs alongside The Cure’s finest.
“The frontman suggested that another two records may be arriving at some point, but ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ feels sufficient enough for the wait we’ve endured, just for being arguably the most personal album of Smith’s career. Mortality may loom, but there’s colour in the black and flowers on the grave.”
The Cure are set to play a special intimate show at the BBC Radio Theatre in London on October 30 ahead of another small gig at the Troxy in the capital on November 1.