By JILL AUGER
R.E.M. has released a new album, “Up,” but it is anything but an “upper.”
The album is good, but very somber and mellow. The music is deep with confusing messages, but most R.E.M. music is like that.
The entire album seems to have a different sound than the normal R.E.M. that we are all used to hearing. That may be do to the fact that the band has been reduced to a three-man band with the recent withdrawal of drummer Bill Berry.
Although the band considered breaking up after the loss of Berry, I am glad they didn’t because the new sound is actually just as good. Different, but good.
The group is good at making music. “Up” is just another successful attempt that shows their tremendous talent. The new sound is a sign of the evolution of the band and its members.
One of the songs, “At My Most Beautiful,” has very intense lyrics.
“I count your eyelashes, secretly. With every one, whisper I love you,” sings lead singer, Michael Stipe.
These songs are not your everyday love songs, full of mush and sweet-talking. It has an invented romanticism that the band is able to create and pull off, still allowing the audience to relate.
Stipe also admitted the different sound of the new album.
“This is the most blatantly romantic I’ve ever been,” Stipe said.
The songs are full of fantasy and interesting lyrics that make you wonder what the members were going through when they wrote the new songs.
R.E.M. has never been a band that followed the crowd when it comes to musical creativity. Again, with “Up,” the members prove their diversity and unique style.
