The art of capturing the profoundly beautiful in the simplicity of mundanity is a delicate act.
A band attempting this could benefit from a tongue-in-cheek reference to their own suburban themes. Enter Real Estate.Their debut, self-titled album (released in 2009), filled to the brim with hummable songs that make you feel good, shot them into the scene with force. Fast forward through four more albums, Coachella appearances and the time known as COVID, and the band gathered with intent – to make a new jangly, indie pop record that would bring joy to a world that sorely needed it.
From his Californian home where a fog is rolling in to provide relief from the heatwave most of North America is experiencing, bassist Alex Bleeker chats through the creation of their ultra slick, ultra catchy sixth record 'Daniel'.
"We recorded in the most hi-fi situation that we've ever been in," he contemplates. "We were in the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville, where Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' was recorded. It was started by Chet Atkins, and The Beach Boys did some stuff there.
"We were really lucky, it happened incidentally. Our producer Daniel Tashian said, 'I was having dinner with my friend Dave, who runs it and he said we should make it there'."
Fortune favours the brave and the proactive, as Real Estate set their intentions early, deviating only to make the most of their environment. "The vision of this record was to put the poppy, catchy, jangly thing that Real Estate does way up front, and make it sound clean and accessible.
"Once we knew we were making it in Nashville, we were like, 'oh we're putting pedal steel on this'. A lot of the takes are live, including Martin's vocals, which we had never done before."
Nashville had more of an impact than just inspiring instrument choices. The studio workings affected the entire album process, which Bleeker enjoyed. "We moved fast. Fast for us, slow for Nashville. They're used to cutting whole records in an afternoon. We were doing one to two songs a day, insane.
"There's real emphasis on performance there. Martin was singing while we were tracking, and we were like, 'we'll overdub that in search of perfection later'; and they're like, 'are you really gonna perform better than when you're actually playing with the band?' It was that mentality. A lot of stuff on this record was kept from one take, and we edited things, but the meat happened in the room."
One song from the record, 'Market Street', perfectly captures the post-COVID tentativeness and the existential wonderings of whether life will truly be the same again. "'Market Street' means downtown anywhere. We're getting further away from it, which is great, but the foreboding sense of awakening from COVID.
"That song is, we're out here in the world pretending nothing happened and it's a little different now, but here we are buying flowers. But something has shifted. It's an underlying 'will it ever be the same?'."
However, the release from COVID did catalyse gratitude for many which Bleeker reflects upon. "That's the pervasive feeling. I remember during COVID being like, 'we're never gonna take anything for granted again'; and then, whatever f... it. I thought it was gonna be an insane bacchanal, the new Renaissance. Well it's still early days, maybe that's coming."
Thanks to the wonders of the gloriously available worldwide travel, Real Estate will be bringing 'Daniel' down under in what feels like a homecoming for the band. Bleeker has one thing especially on his mind. "Breakfast," he laughs.
"I love every city that I've been to in Australia, I love the culture. There's something about being a British colony maybe. It's wild to go so far from home and feel so at home.
"I love the music scene. Paul Kelly is a rock star, but he makes music that sounds like our music, it's a bizarro, amazing world where Real Estate makes sense. Every time I'm there, I think 'we need to make a record here'. We're not done with Australia yet."
Music and breakfast aside, a band of introspective lyrics and philosophising such as Real Estate must have a history with the great philosophers. When pressed, Alex shares his personal favourite.
"I am a fan of Schrodinger's Cat. For perhaps those of your readers or listeners that don't know, if you put a cat in a box and walk away, the cat is both alive and dead at the same time, because there's no way of knowing until you open the box, which is morbid, but very hopeful to me, a multitude of realities and possibilities depending on your perspective at all singular points in time."
After enjoying 15 years together as a band, you learn a thing or two alongside Schrodinger's Cat. Bleeker reflects characteristically philosophically on their time together, when offering his advice on the industry.
"I was about to be like, 'there's no money', but, I'm glad I didn't know, because I have no regrets and I'm so happy to be doing what I'm doing and I would make all the same choices over again. It's incredible to travel to places like Australia and resonate with people and have these conversations. So I'm glad nobody talked me out of it."
Real Estate 2024 Tour Dates
Fri 15 Nov - The Prince Bandroom (Melbourne)Sat 16 Nov - Manning Bar (Sydney)
Sun 17 Nov - The Triffid (Brisbane)
