London Real Estate
- Dec 13, 2011
Barely a month after playing in the relatively cosy confounds of the Highbury Garage, New Jersey five-piece Real Estate are back in London treating an audience nearly twice as large to a set of their breezy, bucolic lo-fi.
Whenever you see Real Estate interviewed they seem to have a lot to say, usually against a lot of laughter too (it’s no revelation when you learn that the majority of the band were childhood friends), so looking forward to plenty of silliness between songs I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the breaks tonight were few and far between.
In hindsight it obviously works better this way, helping the set become, like their enthralling new record ‘Days’, one long and continuous, shimmering cycle. In fact, there’s only one real pause during the set and that’s when the band soar in to the buoyant pop bliss of ‘Easy’ only to stop a few seconds later with one of the guitar’s apparently in need of a slight retune. “Thank you. That was our new single, ‘Out Of Tune’”, says bassist Alex Bleeker with a wry smile before seamlessly re-launching back in to it a moment later.
Real Estate’s unique blend of stoner-pop, melancholia, grunge, lo-fi and surf rock seems to reach even more psychedelic levels live, with their rippling reverb and soaring melodies all the more hypnotic against guitars that shine twice as brightly. Songs are extended and glide in to one another, with their debut self-titled’s ‘Beach Comber’ falling in to Days’ ‘It’s Real’ so perfectly you’d be forgiven for thinking it was one long song. The tranquillising instrumental set closer ‘Kinder Block’ seems to meander on for twice its length too, with everyone in attendance the happier for it.
It’s rare when every song for a relatively new artist is received like a hit single, but tonight’s enwrapped audience greet each like an old friend. ‘It’s Real’ played just before the encore couldn’t have been more suitably placed, prompting an a cappella rendition of the one-line chorus from the crowd that continued for a full five minutes until the band came back on stage. “Thank you guys, that sounded wonderful,” replied guitarist and vocalist Martin Courtney with genuine gratitude before floating in to the serene and glistening grooves of ‘Three Blocks’.
Props must be given to the lighting guy too, who didn’t miss the opportunity to bathe the audience in a tide of illuminating green during the gorgeous ‘Green Isles’ and the lighting throughout the set, against the aquatic nature of Days, meant at times it felt like you were watching the set in an aquarium.
One of the things I’ve noticed after spending some time with this year’s wonderful and critically acclaimed ‘Days’ is that even when you’re popping by for a single song you end up being lulled in to a full listen. The album works best as one complete and enchanting listen and what was interesting tonight was that even when the pack was shuffled and mixed with other songs in their repertoire, the effects remain the same; either you don’t want it to end or you forget that it’s going to.
9/10
David Sowerby
