I am a huge R.E.M. fan. They are my favouritest of favourite bands. I feel I should get that out of the way from the start. Despite being very fond of them I can also admit that since the departure of drummer Bill Berry in 1997 they have struggled to recapture their magic and remain relevant. After the sublime but confusing Up came the sweet synth pop of Reveal and the just bizarre Around The Sun, all records that displayed a band becoming increasingly confused and perhaps more than a little bored.

2008’s Accelerate was a huge improvement that many deemed a ‘return to form’, and whilst certainly better than Around The Sun, it still found the band on autopilot, albeit in a slightly more reinvigorated, spirited way. I am yet to truly dislike any R.E.M. record but can appreciate the confusion some fans have felt since New Adventures In Hi-Fi (my personal favourite) or even since Automatic For The People, which is now almost twenty years old. Wait, what? Really? Wow…

That’s a long time for some people to wait for a ‘comeback’ and they won’t quite find it here, but they will find glimpses of the band they fell in love with then, as well as signs of a band still growing, even after nearly thirty years. The record opens with a bang in “Discoverer,” a song that sees the band reclaiming their ‘strange’ and ‘quirky’ aspects that haven’t been on display for quite a while, and it’s a welcome return. Michael Stipe’s lyrics are as beguilingly beautiful and frustratingly impenetrable as they have ever been and the band rattles around his voice, which is on top form throughout the record.

The album then shifts from mid-tempo to one of the ‘proper rockers’ we were promised by Peter Buck, but it falls slightly flat. In fact, this record only truly excels in the mid-tempo numbers. “It Happened Today” is gloriously uplifting folk, “Oh My Heart” (a sequel of sorts to Accelerate’s “Houston”) is genuinely heart wrenching, and “Überlin” may be the best thing they’ve recorded in over a decade – Stipe’s ability to pick small moments of beauty in everyday words being perfectly demonstrated.

Slower numbers like “Every Day Is Yours To Win” and “Walk It Back” are pretty and interesting enough, but at times a little floaty to add up to anything substantial, and unfortunately the record lets itself down on the faster, more aggressive tracks. “Mine Smell Like Honey” doesn’t do much at all and “Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter,” despite being fantastically titled and goofy in a way that only R.E.M. can pull of, is decidedly disposable.  The softly closing coda of “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I” and “Blue” works wonderfully, however (the latter reminiscent of “Country Feedback,” one of the bands darker moments from Out Of Time), Stipe intoning as opposed to singing, Patti Smith returning for vocal duties until the record closes with a reprise of “Discoverer”.

It doesn’t outstay its welcome, which is nice, but does contain a few missed opportunities alongside some of the most exciting material they’ve unveiled for a long time. The band must be commended for not completely abandoning their will to experiment and invent after thirty years, and this record features everything you’ve come to expect from R.E.M.. Just one too few surprises and one too many curious decisions.

Conclusion: Their fifteenth full length album finds the band mixing reinvention with traditionalism, with surprisingly effective results.