On Thursday (April 23), Michael Stipe to perform an unreleased song called “The Rest of Ever” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The legendary singer has been working on his first full solo album for several years and while he has said in recent weeks that it has taken “longer than I wanted,” The track is set to appear on his debut solo album, which, he revealed, is coming at the end of this year.
Alongside the house band Louis Cato and The Great Big Joy Machine, the mature contemplative track sounds like a slower-tempo version of an outtake from R.E.M.’s ‘Monster’, with Stipe earnestly addressing a loved one, embracing the deep huskiness of his current vocal register.
“One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” he said. “It’s this confusing situation. My friend recorded a tree in my backyard in Georgia and played it back to itself, and so it sounds like Daft Punk, but I’m putting a sea shanty [in the song],”Stipe attempted to describe the sound of his new album
Last month, Stipe joined Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy at one of their ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ 40th anniversary tour shows in Brooklyn. They played versions of R.E.M.’s ‘These Days’ and ‘The Great Beyond’. A year ago, he also sang ‘Pretty Persuasion’ with them.
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