Off the back of releasing their fourth studio album ('In Mind') in March, US indie-rock quintet Real Estate are coming back down under.
With a slot at this year’s Splendour In The Grass they’ll also play Umbrella: Winter City Sounds giving locals the first live taste of ‘In Mind’, plus all the favourites from their previous three records.
Frontman Martin Courtney says they’re excited to bring the new songs across the Pacific, something they often don’t do this soon after a release. “We’re glad to be getting the chance to come [to Australia] in July. I kind of assumed we wouldn’t be able to get out there until maybe January or February next year.
“Australia’s such a beautiful country. I feel we have great shows there and it’s a top place to play. I like a lot of music that comes from Australia and you guys have some really good food and really good coffee.”
The greatness of Australian music and coffee aside, Real Estate’s band members now live thousands of miles apart meaning the making of ‘In Mind’ brought some new challenges to the creative process. “We all got together in the small town where I live and spent some time working on the arrangements, learning the songs and writing new songs… then we got all together in one place and recorded about a year ago,” Martin remembers.
Despite the distance difficulties, ‘In Mind’ takes the five-piece in a new direction and, according to Martin, a more freeing direction at that. “The process by which we made the music, sending demos to each other and then getting together for that concentrated period of time, forced us to be creative in one burst, as opposed to spreading out the process over months.
“The record making process was shorter, so that contributed to not over-thinking things in that respect. I think it’s also a reflection on how we’ve changed as musicians and how I’ve changed as a songwriter.
“So, this record maybe a little looser sounding than our previous one, ‘Atlas’, [which] we spent a little more time trying to make the songs really tight and get the classic song structure. This record, we decided to maybe make it a little weirder and get a little looser in terms of song structure.”
With the band spread apart now more than ever, all the moving around luckily tends to inspire Martin’s songwriting rather than hinder it. “Lyrically I’ve changed a lot over eight or nine years. I’m inspired by different things as my life changes and as situations change. I’ve moved several times now and the people in my life [have changed], so my inspirations change.
“I’ll go for long walks or sit in my house and think about memories, but generally I’m inspired by my immediate life and not outside stories.”
Real Estate Shows
Fri 21 Jul - Splendour In The Grass (Byron Bay)Sat 22 Jul - Croxton Bandroom (Melbourne)
Tue 25 Jul - Edinburgh Castle Hotel (Adelaide)
Thu 27 Jul - Metro Theatre (Sydney)
