{"id":50180,"date":"2025-10-15T12:22:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=50180"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:30:32","slug":"real-estate-royale-10-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/10\/15\/real-estate-royale-10-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Estate @ Royale 10\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photography by Miguel Gonzales<\/span><\/p>\n

Review by Samantha Gamero<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Warm, simmering feelings of nostalgia from a decade I was too young to remember filled the artificial cold air at Royale on the night of October 11th. Real Estate played their final show of their 11th anniversary tour, celebrating their acclaimed record, \u201cAtlas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAtlas,\u201d released in 2014, is an ode to this New Jersey band\u2019s timeless, simple, yet uplifting melodic sound. I can hear the sounds of suburbia chime throughout this record as they yearn for \u201csomething more.\u201d Ranked No. 14 in best new albums by Pitchfork, \u201cAtlas\u201d blends upbeat chords and a tempo that makes you sway your head side to side over perplexing lyrics and reflective narratives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday is gonna be a light one,\u201d said a security guard checking people in at the Royale. There were only a few groups of people dispersed across the venue, which frequently hosts DJ events. And while yes, in comparison to nightclub-esque shows, Saturday\u2019s lineup was composed of two quieter indie rock artists, who put on a show filled with beautiful noise that quickly filled the space.<\/span><\/p>\n

The energy of the crowd was mellow on this cold Saturday night, with the opening act, Trace Mountains, scheduled to play at 6:30 and Real Estate at 7:45. Trace Mountains came on promptly to play in front of a small crowd of no more than 30 people. The band, a \u201cmusical project\u201d of artist Dave Benton, all hailing from New York, had no time to waste. They played their nice but droningly stale-sounding songs. I fell into a trance to the repetitive melodies echoing in the air, and soon enough, their set was over. We got a few words from the frontman, but not much else.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\nThe crowd grew in size and was amped for Real Estate. We were welcomed by the charismatic bassist Alex Bleeker and lead vocalist Martin Courtney, who thanked the crowd for coming as they shared chuckles with each other. They were happy to be closing out their tour of a record that brought them immense attention. They opened with \u201cPaper Cups,\u201d a song that features North Carolina duo Sylvan Esso.<\/span><\/p>\n

They played a few more songs not on \u201cAtlas,\u201d including \u201cWater Underground,” a track with acoustic guitar and a borderline folk melody. These songs were a perfect introduction to \u201cAtlas,\u201d showcasing some of Real Estate\u2019s newer work and the direction of their sound since 2014. \u201cOut of tune,\u201d someone in the crowd shouted repeatedly in between songs, and even more loudly before \u201cAtlas.\u201d The band said nothing and continued to play their set, a testament that one harsh critic does not define who they are as a band. The iconic guitar chords of \u201cHad to Hear\u201d began to play, and the crowd shouted in excitement, much to the dismay of that one disappointed person in the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n

The record was played in order, and of course, the following song was \u201cPast Lives.\u201d When paying close attention to the lyrics, \u201cPast Lives\u201d unmasks the band\u2019s musical declaration of growth: \u201cI cannot come back to this neighborhood, without feeling my own age.\u201d Their \u201cPast Lives\u201d in their earlier records, \u201cReal Estate\u201d and \u201cDays,\u201d had garnered them attention in the music industry, but five years after the release of their self-titled album, the band was ready to mature their sound. With \u201cAtlas,\u201d the band moved forward, embarking on a new journey, possibly one away from the comfort of their New Jersey home.<\/p><\/div>\n

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They continued to play the album beautifully, seamlessly switching guitars and tuning their instruments, interacting with the audience here and there. The crowd was a mix of young college students, couples, and\u00a0 older, eclectic fans \u2014 some of whom even saw the album release show of \u201cAtlas.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A notable song from the album that is often overlooked is \u201cApril\u2019s Song,\u201d the album\u2019s only instrumental piece with quirky, fuzzy guitar pedals. The band really let loose with the guitar riffs and let the music guide them, in a Yo La Tengo, Ira Kaplan style performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The record ended with \u201cNavigator,\u201d a curious melody that summed up the record to an iconic lyric, \u201cI\u2019ve no idea where the day\u2019s been.\u201d The band was at the end of their reflective journey, and did they reach a conclusion? Not exactly, but I think that’s the point. Time passes, we lose track of time, but in the end, that is okay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, the highlight of the show was the last song of the encore, \u201cIt\u2019s Real,\u201d from their record \u201cDays.\u201d The crowd came alive, everyone was singing along to the \u201coh whoa whoa oh oh\u2019s\u201d that comprised most of the song. It was beautiful, a moment of collective community and therapeutic shouting leading up to the title of the song, \u201cIt\u2019s Real.\u201d What was real? What was real to the band? What was real to everyone in the crowd? Does it really matter? This closing song was the perfect choice, as I\u2019m sure it left a lingering yearning to communicate, exclaim, loudly declare that whatever, whoever,\u00a0 is real. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Photography by Miguel Gonzales Review by Samantha Gamero Warm, simmering feelings of nostalgia from a decade I was too young to remember filled the artificial cold air at Royale on the night of October 11th. Real Estate played their final show of their 11th anniversary tour, celebrating their acclaimed record, \u201cAtlas.\u201d \u201cAtlas,\u201d released in 2014, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25371,"featured_media":50202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1895,1525,1523,15,1530],"tags":[2559,138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25371"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50180"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50219,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50180\/revisions\/50219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}