Stipe: 'New LP renewed REM's emotional ties'

REM singer Michael Stipe has claimed that that group's upcoming album Collapse Into Now helped to reignite friendships with his bandmates Mike Mills and Bill Berry.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the frontman explained that REM's first LP in three years is fueled by the band's collaborative spirit.

"With Collapse Into Now, it just felt like the three of us were communicating in a really great way," the singer said.

Stipe went on to suggest that the record features REM performing at the height of their musical abilities.

He added: "When a band is at a peak, you're able to communicate and talk with each other musically, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally… as friends [and] as collaborators.

"It feels like we really managed to somehow pull all of that together on this record and create something that we're all really proud of."

The 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees have notched six platinum-selling albums and four US top ten singles since forming on the campus of the University of Georgia in the early 1980s.

Collapse Into Now is released on March 7 in the UK and on March 8 in the US.