R.E.M.
– Fables of the Reconstruction
R.E.M. had already made a name for themselves as jangly mystics from Athens, Georgia. But Fables of the Reconstruction sounds like a band lost in a swamp with only ghost stories and an old map scrawled in kudzu. Recorded in chilly London, homesick and reportedly on the edge of breaking apart, they crafted their most murky, insular album—like Faulkner reinterpreted through paisley haze and reverb.
Best of…
The guitars still chime, but they don’t shimmer—they brood. Peter Buck plays like he’s afraid of the light. Michael Stipe, previously content to mumble and gesture, now sounds like a preacher whispering secrets through a cracked stained-glass window. Themes emerge from the fog: Southern Gothic folklore, lost identity, misfits drifting through time. The songs feel less like stories and more like fragments of overheard conversations in a roadside diner no longer on the map.
It’s an album that resists the easy hooks of Reckoning or the college-radio sheen of what would come next. Instead, Fables feels like a slow walk through abandoned towns and haunted woods. It’s flawed, yes. Sometimes the shadows overtake the melodies. But it’s also one of their most rewarding records—quietly brave and strange in all the right ways.
Choice Tracks
Driver 8
A lonesome train song that sounds like it’s skipping along rusted rails through the Bible Belt. Melancholy without moping, urgent without rushing. Buck’s riff is a minor miracle.
Life and How to Live It
Stipe unspools a tale of obsession and isolation with a breathless delivery that hints at mania. The band barrels forward like they’re holding onto the story for dear life.
Green Grow the Rushes
Mysterious and quietly political, this one floats on a bed of chiming guitars and vague allusions. You may not grasp it all, but it sure feels like something important is happening.
Maps and Legends
An eerie elegy for the misunderstood, delivered like a hymn sung in the back of a crumbling chapel. It’s unclear who the “he” is, but his ghost lingers over the entire album.