After R.E.M.´s somewhat ambitious 1996 album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, failed to ignite Billboard´s Hot 100, you might have figured the band would return to the rock-solid bombast of Monster or the consumer-friendly pop of Green. But R.E.M. have enough cash not to worry about commercial failure, and they´ve already been to the top of the mountain, so for now they´d rather explore its lush valleys and secret caves. Up is an atmospheric journey as impressionistic as Enya and as evocative as John Barry.