4:13 Dream

 The Cure released a new album on October 28 called “4:13 Dream”.  They’ve been fairly regular, releasing an album of new material every four years since 1992.  That’s also about as long as I’ve been following them seriously, though I’ve known of them longer and they’ve been around for about 30 years with numerous lineup changes.  I’ve seen them live three times, the last time being their Curiosa Festival four years ago in support of their album “The Cure”.  I haven’t been following them as closely this year.  They did play a live show at the Hollywood Bowl at the end of May of this year, the same night we saw Swervedriver.  They’ve been releasing singles for 4:13 Dream since June.  I’d listened to snippets of them on the internet and for my birthday my wife got me the EP of remixes of the four singles called “Hypnagogic States” that I’ve enjoyed.  The theme of this latest has been 13 since it’s their 13th studio album.  They released the singles on June 13, July 13, August 13, and September 13 (all dates in the UK, US dates vary since singles in the U.S. are released on Tuesday by tradition).

Earlier this year I heard that The Cure were going to release a double album that contained both upbeat and depressing songs similar to 1987’s “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me”.  Later I heard that they changed their plan from releasing one double album to two standard length albums, the first to contain the upbeat songs and the second the darker ones.  4:13 Dream would be the first of the two released.  These might be just rumors and after obtaining and listening to the album several times I’m no longer sure about them.

The album art is mostly abstract renderings and outlines of faces and hands on a watercolor background.  There are also arrows and x’s that suggest a map or trail.  It’s interesting but I wouldn’t say it’s as upbeat as the child-drawn fantasy on “The Cure” or the smiling toy on a bright yellow background on 1996’s “Wild Mood Swings”.  Then again, despite their album art, neither of those albums was 100% upbeat but rather contained a mixture of happy and gloomy songs.  The art for 4:13 Dream seems to combine the gloomy sleeve of 1981’s “Faith” (also full of dark songs) with the playful upbeat sleeve of 1992’s “Wish” (another mixture of upbeat and down).  The sleeve of 4:13 Dream is by Parched Art that is the art company owned by current (and past) Cure guitarist Porl Thompson that also did the album art for Faith.

Like the album art, the music on 4:13 Dream does not fall into a clear category of upbeat or dark or even angry.  The first track, “Underneath the Stars”, suggests gloom with its long beginning (a Cure trademark), heavy guitar with a bit of keyboard thrown in.  But the song isn’t sad, but low key, reminiscent of “Closedown” from their 1989 album “Disintegration” (but much lighter on keyboard) or possibly “Jupiter Crash” from “Wild Mood Swings”.  Things pick up greatly with the next track, “The Only One”, also one of the singles.  The song has what sounds like a xylophone or marimba for accompaniment.  But the song seems more about obsession than about love.  “It gets crazier every day I stay with you / it’s like dream.”

The next track, “The Reasons Why” has upbeat music and gloomy lyrics.  The Cure have written many of these kinds of songs most famously “In-Between Days” from their 1985 album “The Head on the Door”.  “The Reasons Why” leans more towards gloom that that earlier song.  The mood changes with the next track, “Freakshow”, a song about craziness (of a date? An relationship? A club? It’s hard to tell.)  Whatever it is, it sounds fun.  The album version actually sounds more “sane” than the remix because it has clear verses.  The next song, “Siren’s Song”, isn’t quite so hectic.  They bring back the xylophone sound.  It’s a casual song that tells a story about being seduced.  It’s also uncharacteristically short.

The next track, “The Real Snow White” tells a very different story.  It seems to be a tense conversation between a man and a woman with Robert Smith singing both parts.  He sings on without stopping for breath.  It’s an uneven sounding song, but that suits the theme.  The tone stays the same but the theme changes for the next song, “The Hungry Ghost”, a tense critique of society’s unlimited materialistic wants.  “All the stuff we know we never want / seems like we get it anyway.”  The hungry ghost is a metaphor for the pressures of society.  The tone is accusatory and a bit self-righteous but not altogether gloomy.  The next track, “Switch” is darker.  It’s a rant about getting older, becoming more disillusioned, losing friends, seeing people for who they really are, etc.  It’s similar to “Cut” from Wish but not quite as dark.

Things do brighten up for the next track, “The Perfect Boy”, another single.  It’s a story of a relationship told between a woman and man (again, Robert sings both parts continuously and even gives commentary).  Things start off good (“He is the perfect boy”) but ultimately don’t work out (“He’s not the perfect boy at all”).  But the song maintains a cheerful tone throughout as if it’s OK it didn’t work out.  The next song, “This, Here and Now.  With You”, is a playful rant urging the listener, a partner in an relationship, not to focus on the past, not to ask or think about it.  It’s a very vocal song that seems to change intensity with each stanza or maybe that’s just Robert’s voice changing register.

The intensity and speed pick up for the next track, the single “Sleep When I’m Dead.”  The lyrics don’t seem to make much sense.  “Give it to the chicken/ and see if it ticks/ Give it to the kitten / and see if it sicks.”  It seems to be about having to meet the demands of others (as a pop star?) and having no time to relax (hence “Sleep when I’m dead.”)  That’s a rough interpretation.  Like some others on this CD, it’s a short track, atypical for The Cure.  But the reference to a feline is typical of their early work.  Robert begins the next track, “Scream” by singing in a lower register.  His voice gets higher as the song builds in intensity until he literally screams the title of the song.  At one point his scream blends with a higher guitar chord.  The next track, the last one, the appropriately titled “It’s Over” begins with a long, fast guitar showcasing Porl’s skills.  It’s another fast and ranting song this time about ending (a dysfunctional affair? A career? It’s not clear.)  What’s interesting is that The Cure have had a song about ending on their past 5-6 albums (e.g. “End” from Wish, “Bare” from Wild Mood Swings, “39” from “Bloodflowers” (“The fire is almost out, but there’s nothing left to burn”), and “Alt.End” from The Cure (“This may be the last thing we do . . .”)).  It’s like they’re always hinting at something but never going through with it.  Most of these songs allude to or advocate a calm ending but not “It’s Over”.  The song wants to just shut things down now, throw up its hands, be done with it.

No, I wouldn’t call this an upbeat album.  The most upbeat songs are probably “The Only One” and “The Perfect Boy” (and arguably “Freakshow”, though it seems more crazy than happy to me.)  Neither of these approaches the unabashed brightness of “Friday I’m in Love” or “Mint Car” and they tackle less-than-upbeat themes.  Then again, there’s nothing as gloomy as “100 Years” or “39” from earlier albums though “Scream” and “It’s Over” do sound pretty hopeless.  The songs have many different moods but don’t quite have the “Wild Mood Swings” of that earlier album or The Cure or Wish.  4:13 Dream presents more complex concepts than merely upbeat or dark moods.  It explores missed potential for happiness (“The Perfect Boy”), discontent with society (“The Hungry Ghost”), obsession (“The Only One”), and living in the moment (“This, Here and Now. With You”).  Some songs are crazy fun (“Freakshow”) or just crazy (“Sleep When I’m Dead”).  I enjoyed the album more with repeated listening.  I keep finding new things such as profound lyrics and musical arrangement.  If anything, the album is not shallow.

The Cure have released their previous four albums in years that included or preceded major changes in my life.  “Wish” came out the year I finished high school.  “Wild Mood Swings” came out the year I graduated college.  “Bloodflowers” came out the year before I changed jobs and moved to the San Fernando Valley.  “The Cure” came out the year before I left SFV and got married.  I don’t know exactly what changes will occur this year or next.  The past four years have included so many changes already.  Life is a “Freakshow” to satisfy “The Hungry Ghost” and we don’t know “The Reasons Why”.  But at least we have “This Here and Now.  With You”.