Michael Stipe, his debut solo album is almost ready: "There'll be disco tracks and gothic moods"

After years of waiting, Michael Stipe's first proper solo album finally seems to be nearing completion. The former R.E.M. frontman, who has long been working on a record repeatedly announced and postponed, offered new details during a lengthy conversation on the "Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky" podcast, released on October 6. "It's almost done," the singer assured, confirming his intention to finish the work by the end of 2026, though no definitive title or release date has been announced yet.
The interview came in the midst of recording sessions at New York's historic Electric Lady Studios, where Stipe is putting the finishing touches on the material. During the conversation, the musician even played a snippet of a new composition, born from an instrumental track sent to him by producer Andrew Watt, who has also worked with Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Elton John and Lady Gaga. The pair had previously collaborated on "I Played The Fool," a track featured in the TV series "Rooster." Watch the interview below.

"It's a very heavy track, completely different from the rest of the album, and that's exactly what makes it an even bigger challenge," Stipe explained. The song, with its distinctly gothic atmosphere, had been written only the day before: "The words came yesterday, and now I have to go back and read them to figure out what the hell they're about." Joking, the singer initially suggested it might be a kind of sequel to "Losing My Religion," before clarifying: "No, it's really gothic. I don't even know where it came from. I'm just letting myself be guided."
The new album is shaping up to be a varied work, built from collaborations developed over the past several years. After R.E.M. disbanded in 2011, Stipe gradually found his way back to songwriting, first contributing to Fischerspooner's album "Sir" and later working with Andy LeMaster, who produced several of his early solo recordings. Those experiences gave rise to new songs and further collaborations, including ones with Brian Eno and Andrew Watt. "The common thread will be my voice," he explained, noting how the album brings together different musicians and sensibilities.

Among the possible guests is also Peaches, who previously appeared on "Collapse Into Now," R.E.M.'s final studio album, from 2011. "I have two parts written with her in mind. I need her voice and her energy on this record," Stipe said, revealing another unexpected feature of the project: the presence of a few disco-tinged tracks. "Some of the songs are a bit disco, and she's really good at that. I'm not," he admitted wryly. A musical direction that has also forced him to rethink his approach to lyric writing: "They can't be too dumb, but not too clever either. You have to find a middle ground."
Despite the stylistic variety, Stipe has identified a recurring theme in the new songs: the passage of time and how it's perceived. "A lot of what I'm working on is about time, the way it seems to have shifted, warped and transformed," he explained. An element that emerged naturally during the process, rather than the result of some predetermined concept.

The road to this debut has been long and bumpy. Back in 2023, Stipe had already spoken of an album that was essentially finished, even envisioning a visual project to accompany each song. In the meantime, rumors circulated about possible collaborations with Courtney Love and about recordings made with Andy LeMaster and LCD Soundsystem's Pat Mahoney, though it was never clarified which songs would make the final cut.
In the years since R.E.M.'s breakup, Stipe has nonetheless released a handful of songs, including "Your Capricious Soul," "Drive To The Ocean" and "No Time For Love Like Now," the latter made with Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon's Big Red Machine. More recently came "The Rest Of Ever," performed on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," and "Hum Desiderata," which offered a further preview of the material in the works. It remains to be seen which of these recordings will make it onto the album. Last March, the singer said he wanted to finish the project by 2026, after a series of delays caused by the pandemic, a move, and a few periods of creative block. Now, though, he seems to have fully rediscovered his enthusiasm for music. "I'm so immersed in what I'm doing that I really feel like I'm reclaiming my place in music through this record," he confided to Monica Lewinsky. And the debut could mark just the beginning of a new artistic chapter. "The record will come out, people will either like it or they won't, and either way I'll be grateful and happy to have made it. Then I can make another one, and another one after that. I already have ideas about what I want to do next."

A return to full creative activity, then, one that for Stipe seems to carry a deeper meaning than simply releasing an album: reclaiming a musical identity of his own outside the story of R.E.M., without necessarily renouncing the past, but opening up to languages and collaborations still unexplored.

Listen to the full interview with Michael Stipe on the "Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky" podcast

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