Real Estate:
Atlas:
Domino:
CD/Download/Vinyl:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★★☆☆
Gazing out of the window at the sunny landscape beyond seemed to be a fitting time to give Real Estate's third full-length album a spin - all ten tracks shift seamlessly between chilled surfer-bum jangle and wide-eyed psych-pop.
New Jersey's bright and breezy trio continue their unhurried journey through perfectly pleasing songs such as the opening Had To Hear with its lengthy intro, lengthier outro and wispy, wistful melody and the storming single Talking Backwards, a lively gambol through territory previously visited by The Go-Betweens, The Sneetches, Triptides, The Feelies, The Byrds and current press-darlings Temples, minus the fuzz and the feedback it must be said.
And that's really all you need to know about Atlas - it's an album designed to heard in one go (it's barely 40 minutes) and can be shuffled in any order (it'll still sound great). Sure, it's easy-going, it won't be NME's album of the month, it won't challenge your preconceptions of similar outfits possessing a band-member with a rampant beard and others with a dress-sense straight out of a student-disco but so what - I bloody love 'em. From the bit where the instrumental April's Song and the carefree Crime both slide into earshot, you just know that quality will always ride through on a golden horse, regardless of the jockey's whip or the shirt on his back.
Although a couple of songs drop their heads - Past Lives, for example, is just a bit too woozy for its own good - Atlas moves mountains like the strong silent type, rather than a muscle-bound booby.
Atlas:
Domino:
CD/Download/Vinyl:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★★☆☆
New Jersey's bright and breezy trio continue their unhurried journey through perfectly pleasing songs such as the opening Had To Hear with its lengthy intro, lengthier outro and wispy, wistful melody and the storming single Talking Backwards, a lively gambol through territory previously visited by The Go-Betweens, The Sneetches, Triptides, The Feelies, The Byrds and current press-darlings Temples, minus the fuzz and the feedback it must be said.
And that's really all you need to know about Atlas - it's an album designed to heard in one go (it's barely 40 minutes) and can be shuffled in any order (it'll still sound great). Sure, it's easy-going, it won't be NME's album of the month, it won't challenge your preconceptions of similar outfits possessing a band-member with a rampant beard and others with a dress-sense straight out of a student-disco but so what - I bloody love 'em. From the bit where the instrumental April's Song and the carefree Crime both slide into earshot, you just know that quality will always ride through on a golden horse, regardless of the jockey's whip or the shirt on his back.
Although a couple of songs drop their heads - Past Lives, for example, is just a bit too woozy for its own good - Atlas moves mountains like the strong silent type, rather than a muscle-bound booby.