REAL ESTATE – Days (Part 2)

AudioVole is talking about Real Estate’s sophomore album Days and in Part 2, Sarah uses “them fightin’ words” to tell Chris that he’s not a good listener and it’s one reason he might not have taken to the album. Then again, Sarah can’t really talk because she did the same thing back in 2009 with Real Estate’s first record. Luckily, AudioVole is a place of forgiveness (which is good because Chris really needs to redeem himself in Part 3).

Real Estate – “Out of Tune”

Full album stream available at NPR.

From: Sarah Braunstein
To: Chris Mollica 

Chris,

Unlike you (and a lot of other scoff-prone folks), I just couldn’t get behind Real Estate’s 2009 debut record. To be fair, I probably did not spend adequate time with the album to give it the opportunity to open up and grow on me. I should let you in on the fact that I’m largely opposed to music that can be described as “beachy” although I can’t quite put a finger on the source of my repulsion. Maybe it’s because I live in one of the more frigid climes and our beach time comes around about as often as PJ Harvey tours the US (read: basically never). Music that sounds like it should be played while sipping cerveza from the comforts of a blindingly neon towel just reminds me of what I don’t have.  Or perhaps it’s my tissue-white and very burnable complexion (eastern European…I’m coming for you Zola). I enjoy my healthy dose of vitamin D but those “not a cloud in the sky” days also send me scrambling for a tube of SPF 75 that I’ve learned to carry with me at all times.

As such, the release of Days has not been on my radar and personal preference had me leaning toward locking in the self-titled debut from Twerps for this week’s conversation. You see, what I’m trying to do here is demonstrate just how much I really did not care about Real Estate. But then it came down to AudioVole decision time, so I flipped a coin and stuck with gravity’s choice. I figured the allure of a widely anticipated sophomore release would, if nothing else, give us plenty to talk about. I started listening to Days with an admittedly bad attitude, my inner monologue grumbling about how I never drive to the beach so there’s no place for these guys in my life. That state of mind stayed with me for about two full listens of the record on a terrible car stereo. Then I put in my earbuds (some really good Shure ones) and started walking around outside. Voila! The album opened up and here I am, proclaiming my genuine like for Days.

Chris, you mentioned that when you first started listening to the album, you went about your business, cooked up some dinner and didn’t even notice when the music was over. I, too, frequently fall victim to this method of “listening.” A lot of people (namely, the scientist type) claim that multitasking is a myth so who are we to think that we’re super-people who can fully comprehend a brand new record while completing attention-demanding activities like wielding knives and playing with fire? If you were more tuned into Days during your first listen, you’d likely be writing your half of this conversation from a hospital bed. And you would do that for AudioVole, Chris. I know you would.

That being said, Days can certainly be classified as very solid background music; that is, when you put it in the background. Like something gaseous, this album has a remarkable ability to fill and adapt to the space you put it in. I can see Days fitting a summer sensibility, lilting and lazy. But right now, I’m listening to the album in the company of fallen leaves, newly chilly temperatures, and a sun that feels so much weaker than the one I steeled myself against just a couple months ago. Even though you certainly could take Days to the beach, I welcome it as a fall companion, too. Tracks like “Out of Tune” and “Municipality” aren’t just retro (which is kind of an annoying word); they’re rich, complex, tight, and catchy songs by a band that I’m going to label a “late bloomer” although the rest of the world can disagree with me on that.

So, Chris, I recommend you sit down with some really good earbuds and play “It’s Real” a few times on repeat to warm up, then give Days another go. No dinner preparations, no star-gazing on People.com (close that browser tab). Don’t do anything else. Just listen.

Did it work?

“The houses were humming all through the night, And winter was coming but that was all right,”
Sarah

Get the new Real Estate album Days here:
Domino |  Insound Vinyl | Amazon