When New Jersey band Real Estate made their fifth album The Main Thing, it might be said in hindsight, that they “over-thought it”. With new record Daniel, they’ve returned to the fine art of simple, classic pop songs, that will ring very pleasantly in your ears. The band’s lead singer and songwriter Martin Courtney wonders if it will be enough. Let’s alleviate those worries.
When Real Estate made their fifth album The Main Thing, it might be said in hindsight, that they “over-thought it”. Album number five, released coming out of the pandemic, consolidating their earlier successes. The pressure mounted.
“We spent a year making that record. We couldn’t tour because of Covid. It was our fifth album, our tenth year as a band…when it came out, it got some okay reviews, but I couldn’t tell if anybody really heard it”.
When the album was released to damp results, was it time for a reset? In a sense, yes. For band leader Martin Courtney, it was time to get back to songs. After all, without songs, bands are just jamming, right? He set the bar high too, inspired mostly by the 1992 R.E.M. classic Automatic For The People.
Besides, you cannot call in a producer like Daniel Tashian without being able to play him songs of exceptionally high standard. For a start, Tashian produced Kacey Musgrave’s modern classic Golden Hour, as well as writing a bunch of understated classics with his own band The Silver Seas.
Consider then, that the batch of songs landing on the new Real Estate album Daniel were so good that Tashian (who co-writes with many of the artists he produces) only tinkered with them. And in doing so, hopefully gave each one a liberal sprinkling of his magic song fairy dust.
“In terms of his input into the songs it was minimal. Daniel was more like a cheerleader in the studio. He’s so fun - he’ll be jumping around and hype you up - so it’s much less daunting in the studio having him around. Graig Alvin mixed the record, and he’s also won Grammy’s too. We had high-powered people in the room”.
Despite all this, Martin sounds surprised at the possibility of creating a classic album, although Daniel has the potential to be just that. What that means, in this day & age, is another thing entirely. Yet the band has been in classic album territory before, in 2014, with Atlas - songs from which brightened up daytime radio, found their way onto the biggest indie streaming playlists - and even landed that record on the Billboard top 40 and UK album charts.
A decade on, with the music landscape much altered, the expectations for Daniel are less certain. In Courtney’s own words “I know there is a good chance that it will come and go, like everything else these days”. But be assured that if you do become familiar with the record, it will pay you back dividends for a long time to come. So where does a band like Real Estate fit into the modern music industry landscape? An established guitar band, with a bank of solid albums and great songs. And still on a hard road to a living.
“Honestly, it hasn’t been easy. I’ll keep on making music until I die, and in some ways I feel very lucky to make records in real studios. But sometimes the signs point to the fact that I should figure something else out [as in, an alternative career]. I am very conflicted, as happy as I sound and as proud I am of what we’ve achieved. But unless you’re very successful, it’s a middle-class struggle”.
That is a hard truth indeed. The modern music industry is a brutally stratified class system, whereby the closer you are to superstardom, the more that gold might rub off. But if you do not make the rarified circles of the stratosphere, the reality of writing, recording and touring continues to be a finely balanced, fragile existence, even if you can write songs that stand up as modern classics.
But then surely, you cannot give up the day job if making great records is your day job? Long may that be the case for a songwriter and band that after almost 15 years in the game, are still getting better.
Real Estate’s cultural caliber is steadily rising.
Real Estate’s Daniel is out on Domino Records February 2024, you can pre-order the vinyl edition here.
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One of the secrets of longevity is to “meld your influences into something uniquely you”, to “alter the DNA of what’s gone before”. That was according to Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears (throwback to Season 3, Episode 4). I really can’t think of many bands that have done that better than Real Estate.
When Martin & Keith discussed the band’s 80s and 90s American indie influences, they talked about Built To Spill, R.E.M., The Feelies and Galaxy 500. But the list goes on. Well, we have you covered on this, with our “American Import Record Rack” playlist, curated by Jules Gray. It’ll keep you going until Daniel is released.