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Feb 24, 2020 Real Estate By Christopher Roberts

Real Estate are releasing a new album, The Main Thing, this Friday via Domino. Now they have shared another song from it, title track “The Main Thing.” Listen below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

The band’s Martin Courtney had this to say about “The Main Thing” in a press release: “‘The Main Thing’ is my attempt at writing an inspirational anthem for anyone who’s ever been in an existential crisis…specifically, me.

“I was asking myself a lot of uncomfortable questions throughout the process of making this album. Wondering if being an artist is irresponsible or selfish, particularly with the world in the state that it’s in, particularly as a parent of young kids. This was the last song I wrote for this album, and I think it kind of distills where I found myself at the end of what turned out to be a long and extremely rewarding process: psyched on the power of music, for real!

“The lyrics in this song are sort of tongue in cheek, but the sentiment is very real. Basically…when life gets tough, when the stresses start piling up, when you start second guessing every decision you’ve made, what do you do? You double down on the thing that makes you happy, the thing that feeds your soul.

“It might be corny to say, but it really is important to be true to who you are and do what you believe in, whatever that may be.”

Previously Real Estate shared The Main Thing‘s first single, “Paper Cup,” which featured Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso, via a video for the track. “Paper Cup” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Real Estate’s current lineup is Martin Courtney, Alex Bleeker, Jackson Pollis, Matthew Kallman, and Julian Lynch. Their last album was 2017’s In Mind, also on Domino. Kevin McMahon, who worked on the band’s 2011 album Days, produced The Main Thing, which was recorded over the course of a year at Upstate New York’s Marcata Sound studio.

Bleeker had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “We discovered through the care and attention that we brought to this record that making music to resonate with other people is our catharsis. The ‘main thing’ is following your path of inspiration and hoping to inspire that in people around you.”

Read our 2017 interview with Real Estate about In Mind.

Real Estate’s Martin Courtney also released a solo album in 2015, Many Moons. Read our interview with Courtney about it. Also Courtney did a joint interview with actor Jason Schwartzman for our Best of 2014 issue and you can read that here.

Real Estate 2020 Tour Dates:

4/9 - El Club - Detroit, MI*
4/10 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL*
4/11 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN*
4/13 - Slowdown - Omaha, NE*
4/14 - The Truman - Kansas City, MO*
4/15 - The Ready Room - St. Louis, MO*
4/16 - The Vogue - Indianapolis, IN*
4/17 - Brooklyn Bowl Nashville - Nashville, TN*
4/18 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA*
4/20 - Cat’s Cradle - Carrboro, NC*
4/21 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC*
4/22 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA*
4/23 - Royale - Boston, MA*
5/7 - Fox Theater - Oakland, CA†
5/8 - The Fonda Theatre - Los Angeles, CA†
5/9 - Belly Up Tavern - Solana Beach, CA†
5/10 - Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ†
5/12 - Granada Theater - Dallas, TX†
5/13 - Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater - Austin, TX†
5/14 - White Oak Music Hall - Houston, TX†
5/16 - Corona Capital - Guadalajara, MX
5/18 - Gothic Theatre - Englewood, CO#
5/19 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT#
5/21 - Neptune Theatre - Seattle, WA#
5/22 - Revolution Hall - Portland, OR#
6/11 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK
6/12 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK
6/13 - Vicar Street - Dublin, IE
6/14 - Queen Margaret Union - Glasgow, UK
6/16 - Orangerie at Botanique - Brussels, BE
6/17 - Luxor - Koln, DE
6/18 - Le Trabendo - Paris, FR
6/20 - Roundhouse - London, UK
6/21 - Tivolivredenburg Pandora Hall - Utrecht, NL
6/22 - Festsaal Kreuzberg - Berlin, DE
6/24 - Pumpehuset - Copenhagen, DK
7/29 - SummerStage (Central Park Garden State Party) - New York, NY^

*with Palm
†with Meg Baird
#with Itasca
^with Sharon Van Etten & Grace Ives

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