Around the Sun (Warner)

Releasing 13 studio albums is an impressive achievement for any band — whether it is a desirable state of affairs, however, is another matter altogether. Longevity doesn’t necessarily mean diminishing returns, yet too often persistence results in dilution.

Ten years ago it seemed unthinkable that REM would become watered-down — from the magical mystery of their early genius to the highly evolved stadium credibility of Green and Automatic for the People, it appeared they had bucked the rock’n’roll trend by combining global success with creative vitality. Yet following on from the patchy Reveal, Around the Sun is yet another sign that their impetus might have flagged, with 13 songs that boil down the band’s distinctive elements — Michael Stipe’s voice, Peter Buck’s guitar, Mike Mills’s harmony — into a vaguely REM-flavoured dish.

REM were always a cut above the other rock royalty such as U2, an intangible aura of lyrical mystery and rock’n’roll knowledge combining to form an eternally treasurable back catalogue. With Around the Sun, however, they have reduced that body of work to a few moving parts, an REM by numbers that, unfortunately, doesn’t quite add up.

Victoria Segal

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