The Cure

What hath Robert Smith wrought? One of the things The Cure always had going for it as a band was a dramatically pop sensibility that worked alongside floppy-handed protestations against sweetness and light. However, their new album 4:13 Dream, four years in the making, is barely damp with catchiness. "The Only One," which was notably one of the teaser singles released to build anticipation for the record, is a brief respite. It's built on a lovely, layered and jangly guitar bit and percussion that resembles handclaps. Smith's ululations pulse over the melody, raising hairs of delight.

Most of the tracks, however, while they may represent a musical evolution, are dark in a different and uglier way than anything the band has ever done well. Stuffed with messy, grungy guitars that Smith shrieks, squeals or, occasionally, mumbles over to a quick yet dull tempo, they wear on the patience in a hurry, with little evidence of craft. "It's Over" is a particularly egregious example. Even "Freakshow," a slightly peppier number, is sort of awful, with a rhythm that calls to mind the worst of 1990s pop. If this is the cheerful album, with a darker one of already recorded songs to follow, as Smith has promised in interviews, who's looking forward to even muckier tunes?

—Hillary Brown
10.24.08

4:13 Dream may open with the doomed romanticism of "Underneath the Stars," but that slow-crawling mini-epic is a feint, momentarily disguising how this is the Cure's poppiest album since 1992's Wish. But despite the preponderance of sprightly tempos and singsong hooks, nothing about 4:13 Dream feels especially light, perhaps because Robert Smith chooses to pair these songs with a heavy dose of angst. On "The Reasons Why," the catchiest tune here, Smith sings about suicide with no trace of irony. The pristine production emphasizes Smith's stylized mannerisms. Buried toward the back of 4:13 Dream are two songs with hooks that nevertheless dig underneath the skin: "The Perfect Boy" and "This. Here and Now. With You." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi