Album News — November 4, 2010 at 5:39 am

R.E.M. taps Eddie Vedder, Peaches, Patti Smith to sing on ‘Collapse Into Now’

R.E.M., circa 2010

Bassist Mike Mills revealed the first details of R.E.M.’s 15th studio album, Collapse Into Now, on Wednesday, telling Spin.com that the record — due out sometime in early 2011 — features a “more expansive” sound than 2008’s hard-rocking Accelerate, thanks, in part, to guest appearances by the likes of Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye and Peaches.

The record, produced by Accelerate knob-twister Jacknife Lee, will feature 12 songs, including “It Happened Today,” with Pearl Jam’s Vedder on vocals; a yet-to-be named song, “which Mills promises will feature the word ‘alligator’ in the title,” featuring electro artist Peaches on vocals and Smith sideman Kaye on guitar; and the closing track, “Blue,” with vocals from Smith, who previously sang on R.E.M.’s 1996 single “E-Bow the Letter.”

Mills contrasts the trio’s new, unusually guest-heavy album to Accelerate, for which he says the band made the songs as short and fast as they could: “So we wanted this new one to be more expansive. We wanted t put more variety into it and not limit ourselves to any one type of song. There are some really slow, beautiful songs; there are some nice, mid-tempo ones; and then there are three or four rockers.”

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