R.E.M.: Around The Sun

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating * * )

On their 13th album, American alt-rock figureheads sound bored in their work

SAY this for R.E.M. - they've held off on the late-career downhill slide longer than most.

The last studio album, Reveal, (2001) was an upbeat consolidation of the band's trademarks, while its predecessor Up was a highly underrated left-turn after their stadium conquering 90s.

But Around the Sun, coming after last year's greatest hits, is mostly just a damp squib, its mid-tempo meanderings leaving the impression that this is what that Michael Stipe solo album one day might sound like. Yes, it's quite the celebration of his adenoidal melancholia.

The arrangements are similarly unremarkable - a bit of Peter Buck's acoustic strum, idling drums, occasional piano and organ, swathes of synths and strings and one guest, Q-Tip rapping - they still do that? - on The Outsiders is about it.

Yes, some songs have moments that remind you of former glories - like lush single Leaving New York, the askew country-rock of Final Straw, and the very Automatic for the People ballad Make It All Ok.

Supposedly, it comes with an anti-Bush political agenda. But the overriding impression left by Stipe's lyrics is one of self-involvement. Such is the lack of conviction, this album risks turning Kerry voters to "undecided" and gives long-term fans good reason to part company.

Label: Warner Bros