A delightful album, evocative and poetic and it sounds beautiful - the layering of the instruments, especially acoustic, is exquisite. There is a style and mood and confidence about REM at this point and I appreciate they’ve switched up the template. The four album run of Out of Time / Automatic… / Monster and my personal favourite, New Adventures in Hi Fi (go figure) is really impressive. Stipe is at his most engaging and emotionally connected with this album and there are some real tearjerkers - Drive, Everybody Hurts, Nightswimming, Find the River are truly moving moments. Throw in a but of levity with Sidewinder and Man in the Moon, pick up the tempo with Ignoreland and it’s really satisfying. A modern classic.