AMG Review of Around the Sun

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Since the careening, ragged Reckoning followed the hazy, dreamlike Murmur, each R.E.M. album had an element of a surprise, offering something different than what came before. That's not the case with Around the Sun, which refines and polishes the blueprint of Reveal. This is as slow and ballad-heavy as Automatic for the People, but where that album was filled with raw emotion and detours, Around the Sun is tasteful and streamlined. With their layered, low-key production, R.E.M. seem hell-bent on leaving behind anything that could be construed as their signature sound, so keyboards and drum machines are pushed to the front as Buck's guitar strums instead of jangles and Mills' background vocals are buried in the mix under Stipe's double-tracked harmonies.