REM confirm October album

REM have confirmed their new album will be titled Around The Sun. The album is set for release on October 4, preceded by a single, Leaving New York, on September 27.

According to Michael Stipe, the album, the band's 14th studio effort, will be hugely influenced by the "current state of the world".

One of the songs confirmed for inclusion on the follow-up to 2001's Reveal is Final Straw, a protest song the band made available for download last year while the US was at war with Iraq. Other working titles for the songs include Wanderlust, Make It All OK and I'm Gonna DJ.

The band has also revealed that there will be a world tour in support of the record, likely to kick off in the US in the late Autumn.