Robert Smith Hints At Older Material Resurfacing On The Cure's Next Album

It’s only been a few months since The Cure released their first new album in 16 years, but already frontman Robert Smith is talking in earnest about what could appar on their next record.

The veteran outfit issued Songs Of A Lost World back on November 1st, ending a 16-year hiatus between new records that began with the arrival of 2008’s 4:13 Dream. In the span of two months, the new album has gone on to be considered one of the year’s best, and managed to chart highly around the world.

However, even with their Songs Of A Live World record being announced, the band aren’t planning to simply sit on their hands, with Smith already discussing their follow-up record and what could feature on it.

Per NME, Smith recently spoke to John Kennedy of the UK’s Radio X for a track-by-track breakdown of Songs Of A Lost World. During the chat, Smith explained that some of the material that hadn’t initially made the cut for 4:13 Dream is likely to appear on the new album.

“It has a couple of songs that we were playing live which didn’t make it onto Songs Of A Lost World and it has some completely new stuff that no one’s ever heard,” he said of the new record. “There’s three songs on it, which are slower than pretty much anything on this album. So I don’t know, it may well end up being heavier than this one.

“Lyrically, it’s a very long way from being an upbeat album,” he added. “It has one song of grief on it which didn’t make it onto this album, which is a very, very old song which we’ve been playing for a long, long time called It Can Never Be The Same. And I think that this next album will have that song on because I think it’s about time. It used to be called Christmas Without You.”

Indeed, The Cure have been performing It Can Never Be The Same since 2016, with the track having been written during the sessions of their 2008 album. It’s been played live close to 100 times since then, and while live versions have been released over the years, no studio versions have been made officially available.

“When I first wrote it, it was about my mum dying, but it’s mutated over the years and that’s actually turned into a really powerful live song,” Smith added. “That would probably make it on.”

In 2014, Smith had teased the release of two new albums – a concept record called 4:26 Dream and a companion album called 4:14 Scream which featured tracks from the recording sessions of that record. Ultimately, these plans were scrapped and the songs – which ostensibly included It Can Never Be The Same – went unreleased.

In his recent interview, Smith also touched upon another track called A Boy I Never Knew, which he claims had been reworked for the forthcoming record..

“I think that would probably make it on,” he added. “That’s a sad song, but in a completely different way. That’s me singing about a boy that died a million years ago. About the death of humanity before it started, I think… or something.”

While a version purporting to be the original demo from the 4:13 Dream sessions is available online, A Boy I Never Knew has not been performed live to date. Here’s hoping they get around to it before their retirement plans come to fruition.