There’s a special place in my heart for the New York based, indie rock band Real Estate. I equate their music to hazy desert nights and overall content. This appreciation is due in large part to the warm, breezy vibes inherent in their sound, and in small part to my memory of making out with a guy in the front seat of his car while Real Estate’s Atlas (2014) soundtracked the occasion. When I saw Real Estate live for the first time in Madison on Saturday night, Oct. 8, my hopes for a similarly visceral experience fell short.
I usually defend Real Estate against claims that their songs all sound the same, or that they are best when functioning as background music. I maintain my stance against both of these claims when it comes to their studio-recorded albums. But after that Saturday, I say that in a live performance setting, Real Estate’s monotonous energy and delivery had their set begging for a passive listen. Between songs, band members Martin Courtney, Alex Bleeker, Jackson Pollis, Matt Kallman and Julian Lynch were humble and humorous, thanking the crowd after every song and exchanging playful banter. But, for most of their set—and I’m reluctant to say this—they were dull. As much as I wanted to feel Real Estate’s music like a high running through my veins, what I actually experienced was more like what I imagine a low dose of relaxant drugs might feel like: an enjoyable lull, but lacking euphoria.
This is not to say Real Estate’s show was without redeeming qualities. As one-note as their energy was at times, they kept the crowd engaged with a pleasantly diverse and holistic mix of songs from their discography. Their hour-and-a-half set boasted three songs from each of their three albums, including “Beach Comber,” “Easy” and “Had to Hear.” They also played seven new songs, allowing their new band member, Julian Lynch, to showcase his guitar chops. This was interesting to observe. After founding Real Estate member and guitarist, Matt Mondanile, left the band earlier this year, I and many others wondered what replacing him would mean for Real Estate’s sound going forward. Consider the following comment made by Pitchfork writer Ian Cohen in a track review of “Crime” (2014), in which he describes Mondanile’s role in Real Estate as a distinctive, identifying element of their music:
“The guitars immediately tell you, ‘This is Real Estate,’” Cohen wrote, “as Matt Mondanile’s compact, melodic leads weave through a subtly off-kilter strum laid down by Martin Courtney.”
If you take Cohen’s word on this, then the Mondanile-Lynch swap holds a lot of potential significance. Lynch, who got his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote and played all lead guitar parts on the band’s upcoming album. As such, observing Real Estate’s new lineup play some of these songs was pivotal for me as a fan. I’m happy to say that Real Estate’s new music still sounds like Real Estate—though with a subtle, welcome twist from Lynch’s increasingly complex, imaginative approach to guitar riffs. One new song also reflected this progression lyrically, as Courtney sang, “I do not wish to retrace the steps I’ve taken/ all that matters now is where I’m going.”
The show’s highlight was undoubtedly the song “It’s Real,” which came during the encore. A few components came together to make this song standout: Real Estate played to the crowd and not just to each other or a vague spot in the distance, and the crowd collectively put the lowkey head-bob to bed, dancing, singing and uninhibitedly experiencing Real Estate’s music. This was what the whole show should have felt like. My only complaint is that this moment didn’t come sooner; had they played “It’s Real” toward the beginning of the set, or else put as much energy into earlier songs, perhaps more of the night could have retained this vigor.
I’d hoped that Real Estate’s live performance would deliver me an overall visceral experience. I expected the band members to propel some sort of charged feeling at me, a feeling that would lodge under my skin and buzz through my nerves. In hindsight, these were unwarranted expectations. The unexpected charm of Real Estate is their unlikeliness to force deliberate feelings or messages onto their listeners. Instead, their music conveys whatever meaning listeners assign. To some, Real Estate’s songs are chill background music. To others, they’re art pieces that demand distraction-free consumption. To me, they are at least reliable sources of warm fuzzies in my chest. In truth, Real Estate’s music is all of this. In live-form or studio-form, Real Estate respond and adapt to their listeners. Someone at their show Saturday probably did have a visceral experience, though I didn’t. The critical concept is that I could have.
