R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills have just finished recording their 15th studio album, which will be released next spring by Warner Bros. Records. The band has re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced R.E.M.’s acclaimed previous album Accelerate. He is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, The Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party.

R.E.M. and Lee have been recording in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie’s <em>Heroes</em>, U2’s <em>Achtung Baby</em>, and Iggy Pop’s <em>Lust for Life</em>, were made. Additional recording and mixing was done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

The new album will be the follow-up to 2008’s charging <em>Accelerate</em>, which debuted at No. 2 on the <em>Billboard</em> Top 200 album chart, topped the Alternative, Rock, Digital, and Internet (physical goods) charts in the U.S., and debuted at No. 1 in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. It spawned three hit singles “Supernatural Superserious,” “Hollow Man,” and “Man-Sized Wreath.” The band also released a two-CD live set, entitled <em>R.E.M. Live At The Olympia</em>, last October.