Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

4 January 2020

MICHAEL STIPE, former singer/songwriter, frontman and the face of R.E.M., one of the most successful alternative bands in history, turns 60 today. He was born on 4 January 1960 in Decatur, Georgia, US. Although it looked as if Stipe retired from making music – although he helped some musical friends here and there – after R.E.M. split in 2011, he decided to come back, on his own, solo.

He told Spin in an interview: “Eighteen songs are already ready. For five years, I’d had a clean break from music. Now I’m writing, composing, and recording all by myself and for the first time”.

His magnificent debut solo single ‘YOUR CAPRICIOUS SOUL’ came out last October.
A mostly electro, motorik driven humdinger with sensitive vocals by Stipe. A mesmeric beauty with all proceeds going to the climate activism group Extinction Rebellion.
If you missed it here’s the clip…

And today on his 60th birthday Michael Stipe launched his second solo single, called ‘DRIVE TO THE OCEAN‘. A moody and reflective ballad about driving to the ocean while enjoying what’s on the radio, wrapped in a melancholic and wistful melody.

Listen and watch here …

You can download the track on Stipe’s website right here. This time all proceeds go to Pathway To Paris, a nonprofit organization dedicated to turning the Paris Agreement into reality through finding and offering innovative and ambitious solutions for combating global climate change.