As was widely reported last week, The Cure plans to release four new singles on the 13th of each month leading up to the release of its (surprise, surprise) as-yet-untitled 13th studio album in September. First up on May 13th is “The Only One”, which is backed by the non-album b-side “NY Trip.” Each single will feature unqiue b-sides and will be available in physical and digital formats. Sounds great, right? Well, one thing all the news reports forgot to mention is the fact that “The Only One”, which is streaming at The Cure’s official website, isn’t so good. It’s been rough being a Cure fan for the last, oh, decade or so. With each successively worse album, it gets harder and harder to defend the bright spots, which in all honesty were sorely lacking on 2004’s self-titled monolithic retread produced by nu-metal fruitcake Ross Robinson for reasons still unfathomable. It was the aural equivalent of stepping in gum. And there’s no return to form here. Robert Smith is still out of ideas, lyrics, and editors. “The Only One” has the unwelcome happy-go-lucky feel of “High” off Wish– not exactly a choice song to imitate. It’s innocuous alterna-pop with gratingly insipid lyrics mixed up so high that the music almost sounds incidental. Smith’s idiosyncrasies ceased to be charming the moment “Friday I’m in Love” landed on the charts in all its cloying indulgence. That patronizing, pandering stab at blatant commerciality paved the way for Smith’s manipulation of his fanbase ever since. This may be the first Cure album I avoid altogether.