Rock

The Cure
Songs Of A Lost World
Polydor 7503674; LP: 6803377

The Cure’s Robert Smith has often sounded like he’s busy wrestling his psychological demons and their first album for 16 years comes with added musings on mortality. Not a conventional selling point, perhaps, but this is one of their most dramatic and powerful offerings. On ‘Nothing Is Forever’ he sighs, ‘I know my world is growing old’ over piano, synthetic strings and big tolling drumbeats, but hopes for the redemptive power of love. ‘A Fragile Thing’ is bittersweet pop, but a feeling of turmoil prevails, and guitars and bass become abrasive and churning on ‘Warsong’. ‘Endsong’ begins as an exultant instrumental, and when Smith concludes with ‘I’m left alone with nothing’, it feels strangely cathartic. MB

Sound Quality: 90%

Frost*
Life In The Wires
Inside Out 19658884812; LP: 19658884821

Frost* singer and keyboard player Jem Godfrey has said that every prog rock band worth their salt should do a double album. This, the band’s first, is a concept album to boot, with lyrics addressing communication in an AI-influenced dystopia – there’s a
lot to unpack. ‘Evaporator’ is melodic
and anthemic with a billowing string
synth backdrop, and ‘Strange World’ is a poignant near-pop ballad, but some of the instrumental sections, as on ‘Idiot Box’,
are syncopated, punchy and super-tight. And while they have consciously avoided soloing on recent releases, on ‘Moral And Consequence’ both Godfrey and guitarist John Mitchell let rip to great effect. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Jack Cheshire
Interloper
Loose Tongue LTR04

A singular singer-songwriter, Jack Cheshire previously explored the multiverse on his Fractal Future Plays [Album Choice, HFN Dec ’20] and here examines connectedness with nature and the many forces that conspire against achieving that state. It’s sonically rich, with deft drumming, acoustic, electric and backwards guitars, synths and cello. He sounds like Nick Drake floating in space on ‘Valium’, a song about the seductiveness of mindless oblivion, then sings ‘Awake, Dreamer’, over the skittery, scratchy
guitars of ‘Heavy Rotations’ and explores psychedelic pastoralia on ‘Fall In, Fall Out’, a lovely tune with backing vocal chorales and accompanying birdsong. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Kim Deal
Nobody Loves You More
4AD 4AD0733CD; LP: 4AD0733LP

Since the ’80s, Kim Deal has taken a zig-zagging career path with Pixies and
The Breeders, including lengthy hiatuses and some commercial success. Her first solo album is typically idiosyncratic and inventive. On the single ‘Coast’, her vocal twang is backed by mutated surf guitar and Tijuana trumpets, while ‘Crystal Breath’, intended as a TV theme tune, features crunchy electronic grooves and even loopier guitar. Written in a doo-wop style with lap steel guitar and eccentrically wandering strings, ‘Are You Mine?’ feels like a love song but refers to her late mother’s dementia, and Deal revisits family vacations on the orchestrated ‘Summerland’. MB

Sound Quality: 80%