It’s only been a hot minute — a ‘hot hot hot’ minute? — since Robert Smith of The Cure jumped someone else’s musical train, but following his guest shot on Crystal Castles’ “Not In Love”, now the eyeliner-lovin’ frontman can be heard intoning on “Take Forever,” the new single from The Japanese Popstars, who are neither Japanese nor popstars, but rather an Irish electro DJ trio.

“Take Forever” is taken from The Japanese Popstars’ new album, Controlling Your Allegiance, out next Tuesday. Gary Curran, Declan “Decky Hedrock” McLaughlin, and Gareth Donoghue have packed their sophomore set with vocal appearances by singer-songwriters Lisa Hannigan and James Vincent McMorrow, Chicago house-music legend Green Velvet, Tom Smith of Editors, Morgan Kibby of M83, and Blues Explosion lead, Jon Spencer. That’s quite a diverse lineup, but as someone who couldn’t get enough of The Cure’s 1990 remix album, Mixed Up, I’m most curious how Robert Smith came to join The Japanese Popstars.

Pretty simple, actually. McLaughlin thought Smith’s voice would sound good on a rough track they’d been working on. “We sent Robert an email and heard nothing for six months,” he explains. “Then randomly we got an email to say that it had gone into his spam folder.” Fortunately, Robert had visited the band’s MySpace site, which amazingly didn’t crash his browser, chucking the whole idea, loved what he heard, and said he wanted to work with them.

Besides lending his voice to the track, Smith also brought along his six-string bass. That’s what gives “Take Forever” its classic Cure sound, says The Japanese Popstars’ label boss, Matt Stuart of Gung-Ho! Recordings, who adds, “He was a pleasure to deal with in the making of the record.”

From first contact to final recording, it might have taken forever for The Japanese Popstars’ collaboration with Robert Smith to come together, but now the pleasure is all ours.

Purchase The Japanese Popstars feat. Robert Smith – “Take Forever” via iTunes.