The Cure will release their first new song in 16 years on Thursday.
The goth rock band shared a short burst of the song titled Alone on social media, along with close-up black and white images of a stone statue’s face.
In the snippet of the track, which features drums and an electric guitar, frontman Robert Smith sings the lyrics: “This is the end of every song that we sing. The fire burned out to ash, the stars grow dim with tears.”
It will have its full premiere on Mary Anne Hobbs’ BBC Radio 6 Music show at midday on Thursday.
The band, which formed in Crawley, West Sussex, in the 1970s, has been teasing a return for many years.
Their last album 4:13 Dream was released in 2008 and it wasn’t a commercial success.
A second record was teased for the following year but never happened.
However, in 2022 Smith announced their 14th album would be titled Songs Of A Lost World.
Its presumed release date is Friday 1 November, after posters, postcards and projected images promoting the album in places such as Crawley and Blackpool included the date in Roman numerals.
The band, known for tracks including Boys Don’t Cry, Friday I’m In Love and The Lovecats, has both older fans and a large younger following, with about 17 million monthly listens on Spotify.
They also tour regularly.
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Earlier this month, the band’s keyboardist Roger O’Donnell announced he had been diagnosed with “a very rare and aggressive” form of blood cancer.
O’Donnell, who left the group in 1990 and then played with them from 1995 until 2005 before rejoining again in 2011, said he was undergoing treatment and was “fine,” adding “the prognosis is amazing”.
In 2019, a previous drummer for the band Andy Anderson died at the age of 68 after being diagnosed with cancer.