Their sophomore record Days is out and about, occupying prized positions in many a record store just as it'll quite rightly do on several end of year lists. The newly-released vid to It's Real (below) reveals their startling affection for creatures of the canine variety, while simultaneously solidifying their penchant for thrift store threads. We fired some questions at bewhiskered bassist Alex Bleeker of Jersey boys Real Estate. Speaking seasons, shacking up in Brooklyn, and singles carefully constructed in a boardroom (not) here's what came hurtling its way back out of the obscurity of the internet...
Dots: From blog-based buzz band to this week's rammed Rough Trade showing, it's peculiarly difficult to distinguish how big a band Real Estate has become looking from the outside in. From the inside out, how do you currently perceive your success and status?
Alex Bleeker: I mean we're happy that people are hearing our music, that's all. It seems like we are reaching some people who we didn't reach with the debut, and we're glad that people are enjoying it... But really it's best to keep from thinking about that kind thing too hard because it's ultimately unimportant and it can detract from having fun and making good music.
Dashes: Speaking of said show, the eponymous debut was all but avoided. Was this purely because of the nature of the show (ie an instore), or do you feel you've progressed and matured, and that previous recordings no longer fit in with where you're currently at?
AB: We still play a wide variety of our entire catalogue live, so it just depends on how we're feeling. The Rough Trade set was abridged so we decided to showcase the new record.
Dots: Looking quite cynically at the show, the intention behind it was obviously to get latest LP Days into record collections. How do you interpret current trends regarding the digestion and acquisition of music?
AB: Like downloads and stuff? Honestly, we wouldn't be where we are today if people hadn't been trading our early music on the internet, so it would be hypocritical for me to denounce that kind of thing. I've always felt to truly own a record however, you must posess it physically.
Dashes: It's Real has the feel of a bona fide single to it in the traditional sense, sounding as though it could take on the charts with substantial success. Was this the aim with the track, to make it perhaps your poppiest song thus far, or at least since Fake Blues?
AB: Are you insinuating that we consulted a team of marketing experts before writing that song? That we sat down with the calculated intention to write a big commercial hit or something? Because I can assure you, that's not the way it works. It's Real was a song that inspired us, and it sounded like a good fit for the single. It's that simple.
Dots: Lyrically though it seems somewhat ambiguous. What's the deep, meaningful context behind it? For instance, the listener is urged to believe you when you say it's real. What are we being led to believe?
AB: It's a love song. Whatever anybody else chooses to impress upon it is up to them.
Dashes: It also pertains to a perhaps more autumnal twang than the summery slump of the debut. How do you think you've developed sonically? Thematically the progression from the first to the second record feels like the seasonal transition from summer to autumn (to my untrained ears at any rate)...
AB: We've grown up a little bit and i think the music we are making reflects that.
Dots: As such, do you prefer the bright sprightliness of summer, or the chilling sepias of autumn? And more significantly, do you prefer the debut or Days?
AB: Autumn is my favorite season. Both records are special to me.
Dashes: Finally, speaking of real estate, how do you feel relocating to Brooklyn has aided in constructing the idiosyncratic sound you peddle? You could perhaps argue your sound would be more suited to the West Coast...
AB: We moved to the city to be with other friends and artists who inspire us. In Jersey we were living in our parents' houses, so we had to stop doing that eventually...
Days, Real Estate's follow-up to the sensational eponymous debut, is out now on Domino. One of our records of the rapidly diminishing year that is and was 2011, our review can be found here. They return to the UK for a solitary show at the Scala on December 6th, and further info and tickets can of course be located here.
