R.E.M. Speeds Toward a New Album, Accelerate
Fans of alternative rock super group R.E.M. can find reason to feel like shiny happy people this week. The Athens, Georgia-spawned threesome has announced the release of their fourteenth studio album, Accelerate, set for April 1.
April 1? No, they’re not fooling, and neither is the pace of Accelerate, an album of fast-moving tunes that took only nine weeks to record.
Fast forward to more news about R.E.M. after the jump!
Produced by the aptly named Jacknife Lee, Accelerate purports to be the most uptempo album ever released by R.E.M., chock full of what the band’s manager Bertis Downs cheerfully calls “rockers.” But how could anything move more quickly than the indecipherable lyrics delivered in that apocalyptic prom night soundtrack, "It’s The End of the World as We Know It"?
Gay frontman Michael Stipe, who turned 48 on January 4, attributes the swift attitude of Accelerate to improved communication among band members. He told London-based music magazine, Uncut: "We didn't talk to each other for a couple of records -- as friends or as bandmates. And we reached a point before this LP where we just sat down at a table and hashed it out."
Awww.
Then again, after R.E.M.’s sluggish 2004 release, Around the Sun, even tunes that approximate the languid orbital speed of the ballad "Everybody Hurts" would probably feel snappy.
Ears hungry for clues about the new material should refer to the recent five-night residency R.E.M. held at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. Songs played there, such as “”Living Well is the Best Revenge,” “Until the Day is Done,” and “Horse to Water,” are slated to appear on Accelerate.
Speaking of the stage, thus far R.E.M. is scheduled to play the jam band-packed Langerado festival in Florida from March 6 to 9, and the South by Southwest showcase in Austin. Good bets say the band will undertake the summer circuit stateside, and entertain the sweaty throngs at Coachella, Lollapalooza and Virgin Festival.
Upbeat tunes bring chart domination for R.E.M.? This could feel like 1991 all over again.
Comments