Real Estate finds way home in “Atlas”
September 17, 2014
Real Estate, the popular Brooklyn-based slacker rock band, is traveling the globe once more to promote its new album, “Atlas,” and will stop at One Eyed Jacks Monday
Six years after an eponymous first album, several world tours and huge life milestones, Real Estate has traveled a great distance. The band’s travels have resulted in substantial critical acclaim and simultaneous notoriety in music circles, but the members have not forgotten their roots.
Much like an inordinate portion of the Tulane community, the band’s lead singer Martin Courtney, bassist Alex Bleeker and drummer Etienne Pierre Duguay were born and raised in New Jersey suburbs. This affinity for suburban roots shines through in everything the band produces.
“It’s just so engrained in us,” Bleeker said. “It’s where we come from and what our influences are.”
Real Estate sticks to the plan with “Atlas.” The band has not deviated much from its tried and true formula: layered guitar riffs, bright chords and plenty of reverb. The album effortlessly creates spacey and dreamlike atmosphere.
“We’re not in any great rush to make massive changes if they’re not coming naturally,” Bleeker said. “We’re really pushing deeper harmonically and seeing what we can do in the studio and exploring some new ideas.”
Upon closer inspection of “Atlas,” new sound developments appear. Where previous albums “Real Estate” and “Days” feel free, aimless and even careless at points, the more melodic tones and often-brooding lyricism of “Atlas” mark a distinct turn toward heavier subject matter. Rife with musings on growing older, settling down and the loneliness of constant travel, this album finds the Ridgewood natives trying to find peace in unfamiliar territory.
Still, the group maintains a generally positive outlook and presents a deep contentment, for Courtney especially, who is celebrating a recent marriage and expecting his first child. Constant touring, however, can take its toll on a burgeoning family. In “Had to Hear,” Courtney bemoans the distance between himself and his home, a topic he has expounded on in interviews, saying that he has begun to long for the suburban lifestyle once again.
The band prepares to enter the most hectic portion of its trip, which involves stopping in 25 cities between now and November. The members still treasure time spent with each other, good friends from a long way back, and yet the circumstances have changed drastically.
For the time being, the band remains happy building on what it has established and savoring the opportunity to bring it to New Orleans.
“I love New Orleans,” Bleeker said. “I think it’s an amazing town, and I can’t wait for that show.”
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