Michael Stipe set to release first solo album in 2023
Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe is set to release his first solo album in 2023. The news comes 11 years after Stipe last released Collapse into Now in 2011 with his old classic band.
Stipe gave fans a peep at what we might expect from his record back in 2019 with his debut solo single, ‘Your Capricious Soul’, which he then followed up with ‘Future if Future’ earlier this year. However, the news of the release still comes as an early Christmas surprise.
Speaking about the forthcoming release, Stipe stated: “I’m collaborating with a bunch of different musicians, and each of those songs, if I get my way – which I think I will because I’m paying for it – will be very different.”
He continued to tell Departures: “I have no management. I have no label. For the first time in my adult life, I don’t have a contract with anyone except myself. So I get to do whatever I want.” Predicting that the album “should come together next year,” he said “there will be a visual representation for each of the songs. … I’m hoping to build slowly.”
When R.E.M. disbanded, Stipe says he “couldn’t imagine continuing with music, and it took five years before I could come back to the idea of it.” And it took until his 2018 involvement with electronic duo Fischerspooner on their album, Sir, for him to feel like he had something to offer once more.
“I’m still blown away at how good the material was that we worked with on that record,” he said. “And it established a long-standing working relationship with myself and producer Andy LeMaster, which is really important.”
So, he has his sights now set on a big 2023, with a huge record in the works and by the sounds of it a pretty bombastic live show to boot. “I’m doing something that I’m completely terrified of and not sure that I’m capable of,” he noted with a wry nod to the army of dancers he has enlisted. “Actually, I know that I’m incapable, but I’ve started painting.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.