I would love for someone to rec books or movies that are like Disintegration...

... but.... Camus absolutely isn't. His work is incredibly austere, monochrome, rigorous... (read: boring, in a good way) whereas even from their more disciplined post punk start, Smith and co. were kaleidoscopic, grand, histrionic. The complete opposite. Just about every other postpunk act is more Camus-like, even if the Cure were the ones to reference him.

And... Disintegration?? That was 10 years later, and they changed more than Radiohead did between Pablo and Kid A. Disintegration is lush, poppy, dancey, wallowing in beautiful sorrow... whereas Camus has a bible and his leftist social conscience stuck up his ass, never having fun or even letting himself savor depression, instead always moralizing. He's an incredibly political artist- even if his conception of leftist politics was hugely controversial at the time (he fought with Sartre, who was more anti-colonialist) and might read as more right wing today. Whereas it doesn't get any less political than Robert Smith. Maybe he has some personal views, but he certainly excludes them from the art, and with rare exceptions like Primary, it's impossible to even read any abstract social criticisms into his lyrics- which, I believe, is partly why a band so towering in their musical achievements were/are perennially underrated by critics.

Baudelaire is more Cure-like.