While late-night television is continuing as best it can in this era of coronavirus quarantine, the shows certainly have a strange new feel to them. Tuesday night, for example, saw Michael Stipe serve as musical guest on Colbert, singing his newly released demo track “No Time for Love Like Now”. Instead of the former R.E.M. frontman playing with any sort of band, however, he simply sat in front of a very good home camera and gave a very comforting performance alone in a very green room.
In fact, it’s the same room where he shot the video in which we first heard our latest song of the week. Only this time, Stipe himself wore a green sweater that matched the paint job of his porch. The monochromatic scene actually provided something of a calming effect, fitting for the soothing, beautiful song. For much of the performance, Stipe had his eyes closed, except for on the very last refrain, when his lids slowly opened as he looked directly into the camera: “Yes, I am waiting for you.”
Watch Stipe sing “No Time for Love Like Now”, originally written for Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine project, below.
The song is the third Stipe’s shared in recent months, following “Your Capricious Soul” and “Drive to the Ocean”. What’s more, he says he has another 18 solo tracks ready for release, so hopefully we’ll be hearing more soon.
Michael Stipe Sings “No Time for Love Like Now” on Colbert: Watch
Ben Kaye
