CultureCritic interviews Real Estate...

What have you been doing in the interim between 2009's Real Estate and Days?

A lot of touring. We got lost in the mentality of being between tours or on tour. When we got home we thought "I guess it's time to start thinking about album two". We already had most of the songs written and started the record in February.

Living and coming from the suburbs was a big theme on the last record but you've since moved to Brooklyn. Does the new record reflect these changes in your personal circumstances?

Yeah, I lived in Jersey City for pretty much most of the time the band existed other than the first couple of months when I was still living in my parents' house.

If anything a change occurred when I moved to Jersey City. A lot of the songs on this new record are not as immediately about being in the suburbs, but more about looking back further into the past, and thinking about formative years and high school. Maybe it's more of a nostalgic record than the first one because now I don't live at home anymore so it's easier to romanticize that.

One thing you notice when listening to Days is that it has very lush sounding production. Do you think you've outgrown the ‘lo-fi' label?

It definitely doesn't sound lo-fi to me, but at the same time we made a conscious decision not to have it sound as hi-fi as it could. Our idea was to make it sound like it could have been recorded in the ‘70s or something, you know, timeless, as opposed to doing the whole thing with pro-tools and putting it straight into the computer where it's just going to sound horrible like any other pop record. We wanted it hi-fi, but not too hi-fi. Hi-fi for a different era.

Do you feel like Real Estate belongs to New Jersey's impressive musical heritage? (Yo La Tengo being one example that seem to apply...)

I would be honored to think that. Up close to New York you get that culture of being near a big city while also being in kind of a refuge. It makes sense that there's a lot of good art from New Jersey. To be an indie band and have that be part of our story feels good.

How different is the scene in Brooklyn from that which you've left in New Jersey?

Different from New Jersey, yeah. Very much so. People gravitate to Brooklyn because you have outlets to play, there's more people to hear your music, and there's more people who are interested, so it makes sense that there's a lot of bands coming out of Brooklyn.

For me it makes very little sense that a lot of these bands coming out of Brooklyn originated in our town. It's really weird to me. Like, Vivian Girls, Big Troubles, Julian Lynch... Brooklyn makes sense to me because Brooklyn is a big city. And the fact that there's a bunch of bands that have also done well for themselves from the town that we grew up in is really strange to me.

Your sound seems more suited to the beach than the city. Where does your sun-drenched summery sound come from?

If anything it's a reaction to our influences. On this record The Feelies were at the forefront of our minds. We really like their open guitar sound, the twelve string in the background. I've always loved Yo La Tengo. It's weird that I'm mentioning New Jersey bands, it's not really for any other reason than that they're my two favourite bands ever.

What about your contemporaries, what have you been enjoying?

Days is out now, read the latest reviews here.