Real Estate are about a year removed from the release of their latest album, The Main Thing. Between then and now, the pandemic started to really impact the US, but the band still had some music they wanted to finish up, so they did so remotely. That has led to an EP of new material, Half A Human, which is set for release on March 26. Real Estate has previewed the six-track effort with the title track, a six-minute tune that slots nicely into the band’s distinct brand of dreamy indie rock.
Martin Courtney says of the project:
“Life keeps changing and additional responsibilities and stresses keep being added, but this band is still here. When I was writing a lot of these songs, I was feeling a little weird about being in a band. Like, ‘How is this still a thing?’ I was feeling silly about it and then coming around to it at the same time. This is what we’re good at and it’s what we love to do and want to keep doing. I don’t want to do anything else.”
Courtney touched on a similar point in an interview with Uproxx from around this time last year, saying, “I’ve got three kids now. My wife was pregnant through a lot of the process of writing [The Main Thing]. So, just on the level of, is this a responsible thing to do, to be a guy in an indie-rock band? I was really struggling with that, and also feeling like, the world is kind of in a bad state. […] Is there something more useful I could be doing with my life? I feel a little bit useless writing these songs. So, that was kind of what went into writing this record, those types of doubts. […] I think for me it was just like, ‘Obviously I’m going to do this because this is where I’m at in my life. I can’t just not do it. And I want to make a record. I love making music.’ It was never a question of whether or not I wanted to do it. So yeah, I think it just came down to, we need to work that much harder and just make it feel worthwhile, basically.”
Listen to “Half A Human” above and check out the Half A Human art and tracklist below.
1. “Desire Path”
2. “Half A Human”
3. “Soon”
4. “D+”
5. “In The Garden”
6. “Ribbon”
Half A Human is out 3/26 via Domino. Pre-order it here.