Real Estate
Daniel
DOMINO
Real Estate’s sixth album Daniel is an entirely pleasant release, albeit not the Brooklyn-based indie-surf outfit’s most memorable effort. In comparison to 2017’s In Mind or 2020’s The Main Thing, this record brims with plenty more pretty guitar-centric jangle-pop arrangements and Fountains of Wayne–like melodies as it attempts a full-album collective spirit over a grab-bag collection of singular moments. But the band fails to hit quite as hard as it once did in the mid-2010s—Real Estate’s two career peaks of suburban pop malaise, Days and Atlas, still loom high above the rest of the discography.
The biggest fault with Daniel is that its chill vibes sometimes veer into sleepyhead rock-band jamming. The group does feel slightly rejuvenated by their collaborations with producer Daniel Tashian (known for his work on Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour). These are catchy songs that flow well into one another and even incorporate light touches of country and folk (“Victoria”), while pedal steel is deployed on almost half of the album’s tracks.
Daniel is mid-tempo to a fault, but that speed still suits the band well on earnest and genteel standouts such as the three opening tracks, “Somebody New,” “Haunted World,” and “Water Underground.” Keyboards on “Victoria” and strings throughout “Airdrop” keep the interest high, but Real Estate is still slowly transitioning into a new and more lively phase of their surf-rock-indebted career. “Flowers” and “Freeze Brain” get out of their current gentry rut a bit more, and it would be good to see more genre experiments that break their mold like this in the future.
If you’re a Real Estate fan, Daniel provides plenty of creature comforts to enjoy, but just don’t expect any wild surprises or tweaks to the band’s timeworn traditions and melodic structures. The new album is like a favorite pair of jeans that may have a few holes in the pockets, but the style is comforting and filled with memories.
