The Main Thing by Real Estate

With each album Real Estate releases, the more and more each work begins to sound like Martin Courtney’s solo album, Many Moons. The Main Thing, @realestateband’s most recent album fits perfectly into this mold, featuring music that makes you feel like you’re wondering in an isolated meadow awash in moonlight at midnight, all while fairies dance and flit around you.

The Main Thing continues the lean in the same direction, while also blending interesting new sounds and instrumentation. Songs like “Paper Cup,” “November,” "The Main Thing,” and “Silent World” buck the trend and break toward the Atlas or Days era. While being the poppier songs on the album, they also offer the richest, layered musical backdrop that has become the band’s calling card. Courtney’s voice meanders through the soundscapes the band builds together. He’s adept at weaving together interesting ideas should you focus in, while also fading into the background if you’re passively enjoying the music. Some would probably say this is a bad thing, but I enjoy it, especially coming from a band that has endeared themselves to listeners with an uncommon number of instrumental tracks across their catalog. These are high-caliber musicians making high-caliber music and Courtney honors that.

While I’m not sure how it will hold up over time in comparison to Atlas (my personal favorite), all in all, this is a good album. Real Estate is a band that I admire for evolving while simultaneously staying true to the sound they’ve developed over the years. They manage to keep things fresh while also being consistent which is an under appreciated quality. Especially compared to their previous albums, there are new textures for listeners’ ears to discover. There are times when a listener might come out of a trance and realize they weren’t listening all that closely, while at other moments, the track calls you to attention. It’s relaxing music that you can enjoy throughout the year whether that is at the height of summer or in the lows of the winter doldrums.