REM Flow With New Music

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REM report they have already recorded 22 songs for their next album.

In a statement to fans, lead singer Michael Stipe says "As of this week, we've got 22 completed songs to record and mix, and then choose the best tracks for the record. We've got a lot of ideas about presentation and packaging that we're throwing around, so it's high spirits and a lot of work right now. We're back to being artists."

That is good news for REM fans who were granted two new songs on last year's best of 'In Time : The Best of REM', and had the studio album 'Reveal' in 2001. "There's a lot of anticipation in our camp for the coming album and tour; this is the most prolific period we've experienced in several years following the tour last summer" says Stipe.

The album was recorded in Athens, Georgia and Vancouver, Canada final touch-ups currently happening in the not too shabby environs of the Bahamas. Pat McCarthy is once again back at the boards producing. He last worked with the band on 1998's 'Up', the 'Man on the Moon' soundtrack and the two new tracks from the best of 'Bad Day' and 'Animal'.

Songtitles you can expect to find on the record are 'Electron Blue', 'Aftermath', 'Wunderlust' and 'Magnetic North'.

REM's line-up will still be the current three-piece of Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills, complemented in the studio by Scott McCaughey, Ken Stringfellow and Bill Rieflin.

The album is yet to be titled.

Undercover.com