Michael Stipe continues to preview long-awaited solo album with thought provoking new song ‘Hum Desiderata’

Michael Stipe has shared another new track from his forthcoming new solo album – check it out below. READ MORE: NME meets R.E.M.: “We needed swagger – to be loud and raw” Entitled ‘Hum Desiderata’, the former R.E.M. frontman’s latest offering is a spoken word song based on Max Ehrmann’s poem Desiderata. The thought provoking track features additional vocals from artist Elizabeth Hatmaker. You can listen to it on the online sound exhibition platform Joyfully Waiting here. It comes after Stipe spoke about his long-awaited solo album and performed a new track ‘The Rest Of Ever’ during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in April. At the time the legendary singer said he had been working on his first full solo album for several years and he said it has taken “longer than I wanted”, but added that he is now adding the finishing touches to the record, and has said it should be out in 2026. “One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” he said at the time. “It’s this confusing situation. My friend recorded a tree in my backyard in Georgia and played it back to itself, and so it sounds like Daft Punk, but I’m putting a sea shanty [in the song]...