R.E.M. announced they were calling it quits back in 2011, and since then we've only heard sporadic music from the band's frontman, Michael Stipe. Well, that's about to change.

In an interview with Departures, Stipe reveals that he's working on his first-ever solo album, which he says "should come together next year."

“I’m working on a solo album, my first,” he says. “I’m collaborating with a bunch of different musicians and each of those songs, if I get my way, which I think I will because I’m paying for it, will be very different.” Stipe adds that he currently doesn’t have a manager or label, “So I get to do whatever I want."

“Anyway, there will be a visual representation for each of the songs, and it should come together next year,” he explains. “I’m hoping to build slowly.”

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