Word: sun
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Around the Sun...
...Poseneenske’s implication that these kinds of dependent objects are largely useless? I can’t say. But I can tell you that on my way home from the exhibition, I stopped to look at the shadows formed on a patch of grass as the afternoon sun slanted through the branches of a young tree in the yard. The grass was still wet from a morning rain and the sunlight sparkled as it hit the water drops. I watched for a few moments as the branches shook and the shadows shifted. Then I reached up, grabbed...
...cool. It’s what is vaguely depressing about Rod Stewart cutting an album of jazz standards; the plight of rock stars bereft of new material can’t help but make us sad. In this grand tradition, R.E.M’s new album, Around the Sun, is at some points so frankly ill-advised that one wonders if Michael Stipe had his ostrich feather boa tied too tightly, cutting off essential blood circulation to his brain...
Unfortunately, Around the Sun fails to explore any new terrain for the band. Songs like “Make it Okay” and “Aftermath” recycle past R.E.M guitar lines, and Michael Stipe’s vocals sound disinterested and rangeless. “The Worst Joke Ever” might have been a fine song on Out of Time, but by this point in R.E.M.’s career, playing these same mildly-pleasant melodies is nothing short of redundant. The single “Leaving New York” paints a sepulchral...
Unfortunately for the aging rock star, one has to either reinvent oneself completely or bow out with the desire to age gracefully. In Around the Sun, R.E.M does neither of these things, and the effort fails. There seems to be a pervasive air of weariness that populates the entire album, a knowledge that the songs are contrived and re-used, but an inability to refrain from the certain clichés that once made R.E.M who they were. Even attempts at originality are completely based in contrivance, such as Q-Tip’s appearance for the motivational portion...