Every Monday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf shares a sonic gem she found using her nearly 20 years of new-music exploration experience. You can hear all her discoveries at 2 p.m. every Sunday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
English goth rock band The Cure just untethered their first new studio recording in over a decade-and-a-half with the release of despair-laced single “Alone,” which will appear on their forthcoming record, Songs of a Lost World.
This song feels deeply relatable in a post-pandemic world, with Robert E. Smith singing poetic lines like, “The fire burned out to ash and the stars grown dim with tears / Cold and afraid, the ghosts of all that we’ve been / We toast with bitter dregs to our emptiness.” The emotions are palpable as well as relatable. This may be the record I’ve looked forward to most this year, and “Alone” is a really promising signal of what’s to come.
Look for Songs of a Lost World out Nov. 1 on Capitol Records. Until then, find the newest single on What’s All This and the rest of the songs featured on this episode by using the player at the top of the page. Then be sure to dial into 88Nine at 2 p.m. Sundays for more of What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
This week’s best new music
- Kate Bollinger, “I See It Now”
- Shirley Hurt, “Hell of a Life”
- Christian Lee Hutson, “Carousel Horses”
- Merce Lemon, “Foolish and Fast”
- Devendra Banhart, “The Rose”
- Mustafa, “I'll Go Anywhere”
- Son Lux, “Risk of Make Believe”
- Amyl & The Sniffers, “Big Dreams”
- SASAMI, “Slugger”
- The Cure, “Alone”
