Mumblecore before mumblecore was cool: Eighties-era REM.
REM guitarist Peter Buck may be well settled into his current role as a 50-year-old Seattle dad, but he hasn’t really slowed down – nor has his band, judging from their latest full-length, Accelerate (Warner Bros.). The group performs tonight, May 31, and tomorrow, June 1, at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. The first tidbit gleaned from this brief talk showed up in this week’s Sonic Reducer – here’s the rest:
SFBG: So what do you think about the response to Accelerate?
Peter Buck: Pretty positive – I mean, I don’t really read the reviews. But I guess it’s sort of floating in the air that it’s a good record. I feel pretty positive myself.
SFBG: What brought on the more rockin’ approach?
PB: It seems like we were going down the path of making longer, quieter records. And it just seemed like the time for a change.