So here it is, more than 16 years after the last new official single from The Cure, the first taste of their new album Songs Of A Lost World, officially set for release on November 1.

Let’s put aside for now the fact that they’ve promised this record for almost two years now and already staged their world tour in support of it. And also that the band haven’t put out a consistently very good record in 30 years, and that their entire 21st century output is largely forgettable.

Instead, let’s focus on the fact that the band are monsters live, and this will be the first record that features the lineup that has been putting on the epic, catalog-spanning performances that have been their hallmark for the past decade plus. And that this new song delivers everything we want from The Cure – epic, sweeping, gorgeous melancholy. I had previously been reluctant to get too excited for the new record because of the earlier points, but what the hell. Life is too short. I want this new record.

Says Robert Smith of the track:

It’s the track that unlocked the record; as soon as we had that piece of music recorded I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus. I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while, working with the simple idea of “being alone,” always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be… as soon as we finished recording I remembered the poem “Dregs” by the English poet Ernest Dowson… and that was the moment when I knew the song — and the album — were real.

Robert Smith, The Cure
The Cure Release “Alone,” First New Song In 16 Years @ Stereogum