The Cure releases first album in almost two decades

The Cure released Songs of a Lost World, their first new album in nearly two decades, on Friday.

"It sequences in such a way that I think that it kind of takes you somewhere," said lead singer and guitarist Robert Smith. "You end up somewhere different than where you started out and hopefully people will react to it."

Songs of a Lost World begins with "Alone," which Smith earlier described as "the track that unlocked the record," and concludes with Track 8, "Endsong."

The Cure had previously released "Alone" on Sept. 26. Their last album, 4:13 Dream dropped in 2008.

Smith, 65, recently told BBC Radio 6 Music that songwriting is not getting any easier.

"It's the one thing that as I've grown older, I've found much much harder to do -- write words that I want to sing. I can write words but I don't really feel like singing them," he said. "So to arrive at that point where I think that it's worth singing these songs, it has become really, really hard."

His brother's passing influenced this latest work, culminating in "I Can Never Say Goodbye," BBC reports.

The Cure will perform live on YouTube at 4 p.m. Friday.