When I miss home, I just play The Cure. I’ve been playing them a lot recently; mainly Wild Mood Swings and Seventeen Seconds.

A lot of second albums are labelled as difficult to make. I listen to Seventeen Seconds and it just sounds so bloody effortlessly brilliant. I remember getting into The Cure and my stepdad telling me to start with the song A Forest. I played it, and ever since nothing has come close. The bassline, the guitar, the drums- so haunting. Robert’s voice, so perfect. It was one of the first songs I remember hearing and just connecting with. There’s something about A Forest that just screams out GENIUS. I’m not sure I could trust someone who couldn’t see how amazing this song is. It’s my favourite. Always has been, always will be. Nothing will come close to how I feel about this song.

I listen to Seventeen Seconds now, and how I felt when I first heard it is exactly the same how I feel now. I am still in awe of the production and the musicianship. It pisses me off so much when people automatically think of Boys Don’t Cry or Just Like Heaven when they think of The Cure. They need to be hit over the head with a copy of Seventeen Seconds and made to listen to it over and over again. Until they see that it is the most glorious album ever. Robert’s voice is one that will always amaze me and stir up feelings that I didn’t expect a singer to do.

Seventeen Seconds has a sound, a feel to it that has evidently influenced so many bands. That sound is still floating around today in brilliant bands such as Foals and Warpaint. The dreamy vibe that makes every single part of you sway. The picturesque lyrics that make you see the Universe and life in a totally different way. This is a record to lose yourself in. Maybe lose yourself and fall for someone. I have no idea, it depends on the kind of person you are. Or maybe it makes you wish you could fall freely for someone- without something or someone getting in the way. Let’s face it, there’s always something in the way.

At Night is one of the more harsher tracks on the album, the intro (if I could type a sound I would, but if I attempt it will look mighty strange) just reels you in. Then Robert’s voice kicks in with this fucking wonderful guitar. It’s just so bloody perfect. I know that perfection doesn’t exist, but it comes so bloody close on this record. This record was the soundtrack to so many peoples lives, it still is. It is utterly timeless.

The instrumental tracks on the album are brilliant too. See, with anyone else it’d be like an album filler. That isn’t the case with The Cure. The instrumental tracks are just as vital as the others. The album flows so beautiful. You listen to this all the way through. You explore the different layers of each track with every single listen.I listen to this album pretty much every single day, and I still notice something new with every listen. It just fascinates me in so many ways. The album starts with an instrumental (A Reflection)and it does create a somewhat sombre atmosphere, but I guess that’s why I love The Cure. They make you feel okay with feeling sad sometimes. You cannot escape sadness, sometimes you just have to allow yourself to feel it. Don’t be scared.

What I love the most about this record is how Robert’s voice always sounds like an echo. If you listen to the album through headphones, you feel it go from one ear to another in such a dramatic and haunting manner. It’s out of this world. The Cure created a sound on this album that was way ahead of its time, and in the process created one of the most influential records of all time. There is so much longing on the album (M, A Forest) and you can fully see why teenagers across the world found so much peace in this band and this record. Everyone knows that being a teenager is one of the cruelest things anyone has to go through, but with bands like The Cure; it makes it easier. I spent my teenage years listening to The Smiths and The Cure, and it gave me an insight to life that nothing else could. Their music taught me things no book could ever teach me.