Robert Smith reveals the dark themes at the heart of The Cure's new record

The Cure will release Songs of a Lost World, their first new album in 16 years, on November 1 via Fiction/Polydor. And in a new [paywalled] interview with The Times , frontman Robert Smith forewarns fans that it is rather bleak, reflective, and sorrow-tinged work.

The album's first single, Alone , dealt with the destruction of planet earth, while themes of death, loneliness, grief, pain and loss run throughout the remaining seven songs, perhaps unsurprisingly since Smith has lost both his parents, his brother, Richard and all his aunts and uncles during the years separating the new record from 2008's 4:13 Dream .

“Our songs always had a fear of mortality,” Smith tells The Times . “I don’t feel my age at all but I’m aware of it and when you get older that fear becomes more real. Death becomes more everyday. When you are younger you romanticise death, but then it happens to your family and friends. I am a different person to the last record and I wanted to put that across. It can be trite. People could say, ‘Oh, we’re all going to die — surprise me!’ But I try to find some emotional connection to that idea.”

When not meditating upon mortality, Smith's despair at the modern world is another core theme underpinning his new songs.

“The world is falling apart,” he says. “It’s insane. It’s greed, inequality, monetisation. I’ve realised some of my reactions to the modern world are a bit extreme, that I’m becoming an old grouch and that it’s easy to tip over to talking about the fond memories of a world that’s disappeared … but there are moments I just want to leave the front door shut.”

In rather brighter news, Smith's band have announced an intimate show at The Troxy in east London on November 1 to celebrate the album's release.

Fans from the UK and Europe will need to pre-order Songs of a Lost World before 11.59am BST on October 16 to have an opportunity to buy tickets.