The Cure‘s official photographer will release a new book featuring never-before-seen and rare photographs of the band.
Andy Vella’s Obscure will be released on September 18 and includes a foreword from Robert Smith, who describes it as being “dreadfully funny, terribly honest and strangely melancholic.”
Vella is the artist responsible for the artwork to The Cure’s records including Disintegration and has followed the band since their first photoshoot in 1981. Obscure features photographs spanning four decades and concludes with shots from the band’s gig at Royal Albert Hall earlier this year.
Speaking about his work, Vella said: “I have no fixed idea of the image I’m after. I always like and trust spontaneity. I love light and dark and what sits in the middle. With The Cure I love putting images to poetry. When I photograph The Cure I am always transported somewhere new.”
Earlier this year Robert Smith revealed that the group’s next album will be a mix of brand new material and unused material from 2008’s 4:13 Dream, their most recent record.