Real Estate – Self Titled [Album Review]

This year, like every other one for the past four or five, I sat down in mid December and began to compile a force-ranked list of my favorite of the many albums that I purchased over the preceding 12 months.  The ranking is influenced heavily by my mood and by the integrity of my memory. Given brain cell attrition that can be materially accelerated by holiday season drinking…..well, you get the picture.  Some make the list that probably shouldn’t and are sampled only sporadically thereafter.

One album, however, that continues to resonate with me, and more profoundly with each listen, is the fantastic self-titled debut from Real Estate.  Not only did the album make my top ten for 2009, the “Beach Comber” track was my favorite song of the entire year and represents a microcosm of why I love this band.  Part of the lo-fi, psychedelic, SoCal pop movement that continues to take hold today, yet with material departures beginning with the recognition that band is not even from Southern California.  They actually hail from New Jersey and, although there is some sand-and-surf subject matter, you’re more likely to get songs that relate to real world and living in the suburbs.

First of all, it’s moody and melodic.  On certain tracks the band uses slight variations of continuous loops, which gets hypnotic, but then veers in tempo and careens off in a new direction mid-song.  “Beach Comber” is the highlight and sets the tone for the rest of the album.  It begins with a lightly submerged-sounding guitar strum that leads you to this poignant opener: “What you want is just outside your reach, keep on searching.” There’s a breeziness, even optimism, to the melody that sweeps over the listener, but there’s also traces of melancholy and longing, reinforced of course by those lyrics.

Later there’s “call the office and tell them you won’t be coming home”—offers the hope of escape, but in a way that’s more comprehensive.  And finally, the gripping “Suburban Dogs” that exclaims: “Suburban dogs get afraid when it rains/suburban dogs bark at slow-moving trains/they run from your house, but return the same day/suburban dogs are in love with their chains”.  Wow, that’s a confluence of feelings ranging from nostalgia to disdain to fatalism and sure to give you equal doses of repulsion and longing whether you’re a suburbanite or not.

Other winning moments include “Green River” and “Suburban Beverage” and there are a few very good instrumental tracks as well.  I should also point out the band just released the EP Reality, which further perpetuates the sound, mood and content of their debut LP.  Despite all of the recent music of similar genre, this band stands above the class for me as a result of their command of mood, through the lyrics and the melody.

Real Estate – Fake Blues