Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has announced that his first ever solo album is on the way on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Backed by Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, Stipe gave the world its first taste of the new record with “The Rest of Ever”. Watch below.
Speaking to Colbert before the performance, Stipe shared: “My record is coming out at the end of the year, nobody knows that yet so I’m announcing it now. My first-ever solo record.”
Stipe described one song as “the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” explaining, “My friend recorded a tree in my backyard in Georgia and played it back to itself, it sounds like Daft Punk.”
The conversation also touched on R.E.M.’s recent one-off reunion at the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the tribute shows by Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy.
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“I’m like the biggest fan of those guys doing that, because I’ve never gotten to hear those songs before live, because I was in the middle of it, I was singing,” he said. “Those songs are in my DNA, so I’m hearing a part of me thrown back, but interpreted by someone who I really admire.”
Despite the periodic collaborations, R.E.M. remain adamant not returning full time. Guitarist Peter Buck explained the band’s position after the Songwriters Hall Of Fame show, stating they disbanded in 2011 because “there wasn’t anything we could agree on really, musically: what kind of music, how to record it, are we gonna go on tour. We could barely agree on where to go to dinner.”
Stipe added at the time:“We’re also here to tell the tale and we’re sitting at the same table together with deep admiration and lifelong friendship. A lot of people that do this can’t claim that.”
