31. marts er udgivelsesdatoen for Accelerate, R.E.M.’s nye disc. Mange har været alarmeret over den nærmest valiumagtige sindstilstand, der har været fremherskende over bandets plader lige siden trommeslager Bill Berry’s udmeldelse i ’96. Et par kommentarer fra Michael Stipe i det nye Uncut viser, at denne metaltræthed også er blevet bemærket indenfor R.E.M.’s egne rækker. Og det er fandeme positivt. Her er hvad Stipe siger om sit arbejdskollektivs usunde sjæl og manglende fokus de senere år.

– I really liked the songs on the last album, but none of us were happy with the way the record came out. All of us loved the material, but we watched it kind of disappear over the course of the recording. I want to stress that it was no fault of the producer – Pat McCarthy – it was really about myself, Mike and Peter being unable to sit together and talk about the music and what we wanted it to be. And that turned into a record of potentially great songs that just didn’t reach their potential.

– As for the new album as a whole, well, we spent less time making this record than we have in 20 years. I was in Vancouver for two weeks, Dublin for three weeks, and Athens for two weeks. We started working with [producer] Jacknife Lee, the first thing I was “What do you want to hear from R.E.M., and what do you want this record to be?” and he said: “I want it to be thrilling.” I feel like there’s a confidence in the material, and a communication between the three of us that hasn’t been there for some time. 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. Did we come close to splitting? Over the past 27 years? About 12,000 times.