It’s been a big year for Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney.

His band released their third album, Atlas, to overwhelming critical and popular success. Pitchfork gave it Best New Music status and placed it in the best records of the decade so far, while the New York Times labelled it one of the most important albums of the year.

“It’s this thing that we’ve been labouring over and it felt really personally,” Courtney details. “Now it’s public property for everyone to see and listen to, so you can only hope for a positive reaction.”

“It’s great, it’s really gratifying. It’s a really good feeling that people appreciate it.”

But the most important thing for the singer and guitarist this year has been in his personal life: Courtney and his wife recently had a baby girl, their first child.

“It rules,” he says. “But it’s hard with touring and everything. It’s really hard. It sucks cause I miss her all the time. It’s definitely a really positive thing though, it’s great.”

Courtney is speaking from a hotel on the side of a highway in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He and the other four members of Real Estate are travelling around America in support of Atlas, something they’ve been doing almost non-stop since its release in March. According to Courtney, in this time the new songs have grown and developed.

“When you’re playing them live, they tend to evolve,” he reveals. “Playing a song every night, the vocal melodies can change, or the way you play certain guitar parts can change, usually for the better. You wish you could go back to the record and change that part of it.”

“Once the record is done, I stop listening to it,” he continues. “I haven’t listened to it since well before it came out.”

Despite this, Courtney says he has become more proud of the release in this time.

“Having the distance from the record, I become more at ease and proud of it everyday,” he explains. “I’m not fretting about whether or not it’s good enough to be released. Now that it’s out, I’m really happy with it.”

. “We fit in well in Australia. I get really good vibes from people down there.”

Australian fans will have their first chance to see these new songs live in the final few weeks of Summer next year. Real Estate will be coming in a whirlwind three-date tour that doesn’t include any festivals.

“We’re really excited,” Courtney enthuses. “It’s hard for a band to fly across the world, for any band to go to Australia. It’s been hard for us to get it together, and we were really worried that it wasn’t going to happen. It would’ve been a huge bummer if we didn’t make it out for this record, so I’m glad that we are.”

Real Estate’s distinct brand of laid-back, serene guitar rock is a perfect fit for Australia, and the band have previously toured and appeared at Laneway Festival with great success.

“We love it out there, we’re really excited,” he continues. “It feels good out there, we fit in well in Australia. I get really good vibes from people down there.”

The new record marks a distinct change for Courtney in terms of lyrics. On Real Estate’s previous two albums, Courtney’s words were steeped in nostalgia and the suburbs. Now, he’s turned to the present and towards the future.

“It’s a little more reflective on what was going on in my everyday life at the time,” he details. “On previous records I was a little more nostalgic or backwards looking.”

First single ‘Talking Backwards’ may well be the most intimate, personal song that Courtney has ever written, with the breezy, laidback guitars complemented by darker lyrics focusing on the pressures touring places on married life. “We can talk for hours / But the line is still engaged / We’re not getting any closer / You’re too many miles away” he laments.

It’s a typical Real Estate song in terms of instrumentation, but the lyrics are no longer pining for a simpler time, they’re tackling real-world, relatable issues of a very personal nature.

Writing more intimate lyrics proved to be somewhat of a challenge for Courtney, who tends to be more secretive with his words.

“We don’t put our lyrics out, we don’t usually include lyrics sheets,” he says. “I’ve seen some pretty funny interpretations, with people mishearing the words. Some teenagers like to quote lyrics and they’ll just have it totally wrong.”

But far from correcting these misguided interpretations, Courtney likes the fact that his lyrics aren’t as obvious as he may think they are.

“It comes from an insecurity on my part, not wanting to put my lyrics out,” he continues. “I feel they’re clear as day but that’s because I wrote them.”

“For me it goes along with just being surprised that people are even listening. The fact that people care enough to want to comment on some website about our songs is really cool.”

Real Estate are one of those brilliant bands who have an instantly recognisable sound, one that you can straight away tell who it is on any song from their entire back catalogue. While this is something that is often focused on by critics, it’s exactly what makes Real Estate just so great. They know what they’re good at, they’re reliable, and they’re consistently good. A new Real Estate record is comforting and affirming. You know what you’re going to get, but they somehow still manage to make it just a bit better than before.

“It’s a little more refined in terms of songwriting,” Courtney says of Atlas. “I think we continue to grow as songwriters and musicians. I feel like I’ve got better at guitar since the first record.”

“In my mind I think it’s the best record we’ve made. We’ve just grown as a band.”

Read any Real Estate interview or review, and you’re likely to find a confounding focus on the guitar rock genre, and the fact that the band are somehow still popular while the genre is in free fall. It’s a tiresome comparison, and something that Courtney thinks is “pretty silly”.

“There’s obviously a ton of good guitar rock bands, there’s a lot of them in Australia,” he explains. “We’re not the only band that’s making guitar-based indie rock music, I don’t think it’s dying.”

“It’s weird journalism laziness. People try to latch on to something. Somebody writes something, then they take it as the truth, and it gets regurgitated. I don’t think it even makes sense if you think about it for more than two seconds.”

Atlas came six years after Courtney, guitarist Matt Mondanile, and bassist Alex Bleeker formed Real Estate. The three met while in high school, and were immediately on the same page in terms of music and personality. “I don’t know how to put this without sounding cheesy”, Courtney warns before continuing.

“I met Alex in eighth grade science class. We connected over a shared alternative spirit, and definitely shared music tastes,” he describes. “We both became friends with Matt a year later. He was the grade above us, he saw us as these two kids who probably shared interests, because of the way we dressed.”

The three bonded over music, and would later go on to form the band, along with former drummer Etienne Pierre Duguay. “We became best friends over our tastes in music, and then helping each other learn of different bands,” he reveals. “We’ve always played music with each other.”

Playing in a band with high school best friends has both advantages and challenges. While the trio know each other inside-out, it also means they’re not afraid to speak out or argue for their own opinion.

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“We have a pretty strong ethic in terms of what we will and won’t do, and what we all want out of this,” Courtney confirms. “We’re generally on the same page. It becomes harder, but in a good way, when we’re making a record.”

“All three of us have strong opinions. It can be a pretty drawn out process, but that’s always a good thing, it puts pressure on all three of us to do our best work because we have each other to answer to.”

Real Estate has now added two new members, with drummer Jackson Pollis, who has played with the band for a while, and keyboardist Matt Kallman, formerly of Girls, joining in for the writing and recording process.

“This was the first album that they were involved in the writing process,” Courtney says. “They’re crucial to the live show, and they sound good. It makes us more professional live.”

For the childhood friends, the rest of the year will involve even more touring, and then finally some time off for Courtney to spend with his new family. Although they’ve already moved past the new album in many ways, the band is yet to start thinking properly about its followup.

“We’re still pretty focused on finishing off this cycle,” Courtney confirms. “We definitely haven’t started talking about the next record in earnest in any way shape or form. It’s going to be a little while before we get there.”

Martin Courtney used to write about suburban nostalgia, now he’s living this dream with his wife and young baby. He and his childhood best friends have released their most successful album yet, and they’ve done this not through completely reinventing themselves, but by refining and perfecting their own unique sound. It’s been a long and intriguing journey for Real Estate, one that’s led to the huge accolades that Atlas has received. This is something that Courtney sometimes struggles to put into words.

“It’s surreal, it’s amazing.”

Real Estate Australian Tour Dates

Supported by Dick Diver

Wednesday 25th February – Corner Hotel, Melbourne (18+)
www.cornerhotel.com 1300 724 867

Thursday 26th February – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (18+)
www.moshtix.com.au 1300 GET TIX (438 849)

Friday 27th February – The Zoo, Brisbane (18+)
www.zoo.oztix.com.au 1300 762 545

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