Real Estate: Atlas
For their first two albums, New Jersey indie rock act Real Estate built a following on breezy, airy rock songs that left the listener with the feeling of just having stepped out of the ocean on the perfect summer day. On Atlas, the atmosphere is still there, but the mood is decidedly less beachy. Lead single “Talking Backwards” sounds jubilant enough, with its swirling, reverb-drenched guitars, but when Martin Courtney sings, “Am I making any sense to you?” it’s quickly apparent this was a song written in a different state of mind than, say, “Pool Swimmers.” The rest of the album follows in the footsteps of “Talking Backwards,” making for a listening experience better suited to trying to forget that beach trip you took with an ex than actually relishing in the sand and surf. This is the sound of a band growing up, yes, but also the sound of one growing into itself, turning growing pains into beautifully crafted music in the process.
Real Estate’s first two LPs drifted along at a post-graduate pace, but Atlas is their most focused and professional effort yet. The addition of drummer Jackson Pollis and keyboardist Matt Kallman — who both became full-time members after 2011’s Days — has bolstered the band’s sound, and the lo-fi textures that Real Estate wore so well in the past have been washed away, giving each song even more room to breathe. The result is not a reinvention, but rather, a refinement. In its own self-effacing way, Atlas is a work of great confidence, a gorgeous testament to the kind of suspiciously casual understatement they’ve perfected, one that only comes with knowing oneself.
The Fat Angel Sings 