Michael Stipe returns with new music, but once again chooses a path far from the traditional logic of streaming.
The former REM frontman has released Hum Desiderata, a song available exclusively on Joyfully Waitinga platform dedicated to multidisciplinary sound projects and installations.
The track, as reported by Pitchfork, was born from the meeting between the artist's past and creative future. “Hum Desiderata” in fact integrates a recording made by Stipe for his installation of 2023 at ICA Milan, in which he recited the famous poem “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, with the instrumental part of “Hum”, a still unreleased song that will be part of his long-awaited debut solo album.
The song was written and produced together with Andy Lemaster, the musician's historic collaborator, while the additional backing vocals are entrusted to Elizabeth Hatmaker, an artist from the Athens, Georgia scene.
“Hum Desiderata” represents a new fragment of the path that will lead to the publication of Michael Stipe's first solo album, a project still without an official title. The former REM singer had teased the work in April during his appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he performed the unreleased song “The Rest of Ever”.
