Michael Stipe’s Instagram post teasing a new solo track dubbed, ‘Future, if Future’; Photo: Michael Stipe/Instagram
Outspoken activist of everything from Tibetan Freedom to Net Neutrality over the years, one could argue Michael Stipe has dished out more politics than rock.
So it comes as no surprise that the 58-year-old maestro of the late R.E.M. chose a hotbed of a weekend, as young an old America rallied ’round the nation to #MarchForOurLives for tighter gun restrictions, to share a new solo track dubbed, ‘Future, if Future,” that options two directions in its Instagram-teased verse, “Nerve gas or flowers.”
Warbled over a grainy, pixilated shot of Stipe sincerely eyeing the camera, an airy barrage of almost twee electro beats and synths play host to Stipe’s sentimental assurance that “the future is ours.” Meanwhile, a neon cascade of said sentiment, ‘March For Our Lives’ and the title of the song marquee the clip.
Essentially, if this were the 80s video-game it happens to feel like, this is your Michael Stipe-themed game end credit roll, which comes with a defiantly optimistic view of who holds the power in a nation of millions at frustrating odds over the right to bear certain kinds of arms capable of slaughtering citizens at an absurd rate.
Listen to the full clip below paired with the full lyric excerpt via Stipe’s Instagram post: