It’s been over five years since the seminal band REM finally rested their tired eyes and retired. Since then there has been little news musically from their legendary singer Michael Stipe – until now! As he is involved with the soundtrack of the new movie The Cold Lands, directed by his friend Tom Gilroy.
“This is, in fact, the first thing that I’ve done musically since REM disbanded. So, of course, I wanted it to be for something that meant a lot to me. That was important… knew I wasn’t going to sing, so that made it easier,” said Stipe to Salon magazine. On being asked about how it would sound, he added ” I tried to bring groove… I probably would have done something much quieter. But I knew that he wanted something that had a beat, so that was great because it really pushed me. I’m happy with where it landed. It felt to me like a great first project”.
A solo album still may not be coming for a long while “It’s unfathomable to me right now. What would it sound like? Watered-down R.E.M?” stated Stipe.
It would be refreshing for a band to just walk away from their legend and never tarnish it with a cynical greatest hits world tour every ten years.
