New Jersey boys Real Estate couldn’t sound less like where they come from. New Jersey is to America’s musical history, what Manchester is to Britain’s. It’s industrial, it’s grey, it’s wet and it’s very very cold a lot of the time. It has given us Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, both working class heroes who became stadium headliners with their blue collar anthems. Real Estate however, sound like they’ve never felt a drop of rain against their skin in their lives.
The quartet’s songs have a kind of bubbly sensibility, a concoction of 1960s surf guitars, cooing vocal harmonies and lilting melodies. Each one feels like it’s been dipped in pure sunshine and would sound best gently filtering out of a decaying cassette stereo on a beach somewhere unfeasibility idyllic. Not only does it sound sunny, but the band’s lyrics just exude optimism with stories of parties, days on the beach and not a hint of negativity anywhere.
Given it is January and it’s raining outside, this ought to feel like rubbing it in, but it’s strangely hypnotic and almost impossible to not to get into to. Every song Real Estate air from their self-titled debut seems to skip by and the band’s languid, almost distracted style gives the gig a very relaxed feel. That’s not to say the songs aren’t very good indeed: Pool Swimmers, Beach Comber and Fake Blues all sound terrific.
Although it’s clear that there’s a strong Brian Wilson tinge to most of Real Estate’s tracks, there’s a rawness too, which makes them that much more interesting. Many bands have tried to channel the spirit of The Byrds and Beach Boys into something more contemporary and usually end up failing. You only have to go back how quickly everyone got sick of the Thrills to see that.
Real Estate look, sound and act like the most well adjusted band in America. Fortunately, their songs are good enough for that not to be nauseating.
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