After reading a MOJO interview with Michael Stipe where he name-checked their 1992 debut as one of his favorite records of all time, UK duo Utah Saints figured it might not be too much of a stretch to get him to guest on their upcoming release, Two(out July 30th). Stipe agreed, and all he had to do was pick up the phoneóthe Saints just recorded a phone conversation with the star frontman, then chopped it up, rearranged the words, and placed four 2-minute pieces as interludes in between tracks on the new record. The band explains, ” We were all aware that a big ‘R.E.M.’ goes electronic’ type of track might be seen to overshadow the rest of the album, so we suggested that it might be interesting to do it over the telephone.”
Utah Saints’ Jez Willis, continues, “Michael thought that this would be fun, so we talked over the phone, pretty
much about anything that came up, and recorded the whole conversation, which lasted about an hour.” Two will also features a sample of Chuck D’s voice on the first single from the album, “Power to the Beats.”
Source: Allstar News
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