Each new R.E.M. album is usually a major step in a new direction from its previous one, but R.E.M.’s latest release, Around the Sun, is a step back in ways. Really, it’s three steps back. Around the Sun sounds very much like a combination of sounds from their last three albums. The ethereally electronic “Electron Blue” feels like it came right out of the Reveal sessions, “I Wanted to Believe” feels like a leftover from Up, and Michael’s high-pitched cries in “Wanderlust” remind you immediately of New Adventures in Hi-Fi. You could almost call the album a collection of outtakes from the three previous albums. That’s not entirely fair though, because Around the Sun is better than that.

The primary difference between Around the Sun and their most recent work is that their newest addition is decidedly less electronic than the others. While many of the album’s tracks include some background keyboard sounds, most of the songs are driven by the acoustic guitar and piano.

The primary problem with Around the Sun is not so much the style, but the songwriting itself. A number of the album’s later songs sound a bit dry melodically. R.E.M. is known for intentionally refraining from writing pop hits, but they may be going too far in the other direction here. Around the Sun’s best songs open and close the album with the achingly pretty “Leaving New York” and rousing finale in the title track “Around the Sun.”

Micheal Stipe’s voice is as good as ever and his lyrics are typically cryptic. “Leaving New York” includes a line that says “Leaving was never my proud” and the chorus to “Electron Blue” repeats “You know where to run/You run Electron Blue”. In regards to the former line, Rolling Stone has Stipe saying “It’s ungrammatical, …but the line said what I wanted it to say.” Whatever that is.

On the other hand, I really love what others may consider clichéd themes in “The Outsiders” where Q-Tip raps “It’s time to breathe, time to believe/I wanna breathe again, I wanna dream” and from the closing “Around the Sun”, “If I jumped into the ocean to believe/If I climbed a mountain would I have to reach?/Do I even dare to speak?--to dream?--believe?” It’s not often you hear words like “dream” and “believe” used in music in a way that isn’t either cheesy or silly, R.E.M. manage to pull it off in a way that it actually feels uplifting.

1. Leaving New York
2. Electron Blue
3. The Outsiders
4. Make It All Ok
5. Final Straw
6. I Wanted to Be Wrong
7. Wander Lust
8. The Boy in the Well
9. Aftermath
10. High Speed Train
11. Worst Joke Ever
12. The Ascent of Man
13. Around the Sun