R.E.M. is back

After the quite lackluster Around the Sun in 2004 left even the diehards (like me) deflated, R.E.M. have been on a campaign to win back our hearts. First was a series of live rehearsals in Dublin, Ireland last July, where new material was premiered and reworked in response to audience reaction:

(That's an early version of the new single, by the way).
Then the REM Live album came out last fall, showing that the Around the Sun songs weren't as bad as we thought, just overproduced on the album.
On January 1, the band premiered ninetynights.com, which has different footage every day.
And in a strong effort to court the indie community, they premiered their new single "Supernatural Superserious" on Pitchfork. Listen to it here.
It's great, right? Like the perfect blend of 1994's Monster with 1987's Document (two of their most rocking albums). British critics who have heard the whole album are comparing it to Green Day's American Idiot. Others say it's the natural follow-up to 1996's criminally-underrated New Adventures in Hi-Fi.
Whatever it is, I can't wait. I'm going down to Wuxtry Records in Atlanta to pick up my copy, because it's the place where the band recorded their very first demo in 1980. If you can't wait, either, check out this "trailer" for the album:


R.E.M. plays the Langerado Festival in Florida and South by Southwest in March, then embarks on a US and Canadian tour with Modest Mouse and the National in June.