Written by HAAKON MOSLET
Tuesday February
8th 2000 12.57
In a distant past The Cure were icons in a youthculture. Today they are on the verge of closing down, and Robert Smith has become 40. But "Bloodflowers" shows that Smith and the band still manages to unite deep depressions with the pure joy of pop.
The Cure wasn't a band, it was a way of living.
That's how the present talks about Cure and their most influential period from the mid 80s to 92s "Wish", when Smith's friends counted millions.
The band was formed in the middle of the spring of punk, grew to become one of the postpunk era's most pronounced actors, became godfathers of the goth culture and ended as worldspanning megastars in a cult where a ton of hairspray, smearing lipstick and a depressive feature were essential.
Identity
But hey, Cure is much more than
an identity making youth phenomena from the second part of the 80s. On
the ten studioalbums which were released in suicidal angst, selfdestructive
living, mental rollercoaster, 20 years crises, 23 years crises, 27 years
crises, 30 years crises and not least 37 years crises during the years
form 79 to 96, there exists large quantities of black clad popmagic which
have not yet been outdated.
This winter The Cure are back with "Bloodflowers", an album which reveals that they still can make atmospheric music that touches and challenges.
The great fall
Robert Smith hasn't any longer
the hand for singles, which he showed to perfection on "Kiss Me, Kiss Me,
Kiss Me", "Disintegration" and "Wish", but he is still a master when it
comes to making the most fragile and ambiguous melodies.
Smith is the messenger of unluck in the garden of luck. He makes music to a living filled with hopeless loss just when it's not hopeless anymore. Twisted feelings and lost love. The great fall, a glitter of light. A bloodred, poetic mix of happiness and misery, of light and darkness, warmth and coldness. A hell of a combination, a hell of a great combination. The spiral that only goes down and down in the 11 minutes long "Watching Me Fall". The same song's free, explosive and almost bluesy guitar solo. The strolling "Where The Birds Always Sing". The blistering and melancholic "The Last Day Of Summer", the touching "There Is No If...". The exhaustion and desperation in the ending titletrack "Bloodflowers".
The Cure is no longer an important pop cultural actor, but they still have the power and ability to make music that touches and which means something. As Robert Smith sings these flowers will never die
"Bloodflowers" can be found in shops from Monday 14 February.