Das sechste Real Estate-Album »Daniel« wurde in neun Tagen im RCA Studio A in Nashville mit dem GRAMMY-prämierten Produzenten und Songwriter Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves) aufgenommen. In 11 zwanghaft melodiösen Songs verbinden sie das ungehemmte Staunen ihrer frühesten Arbeiten mit der verdienten Perspektive des Erwachsenseins.
Einige Tage vor den Aufnahmen diskutierten alle fünf Mitglieder von Real Estate über Albumtitel, als jemand »Daniel« vorschlug, weil es einfach witzig erschien, einer Platte einen menschlichen Namen zu geben. War es für Daniel Tashian? Vielleicht. War es eine Anspielung auf Tim von The Replacements? Möglicherweise. War es das Zeichen einer Band, die nun schon lange genug dabei ist, um ihre Musik ernst zu nehmen, ohne sich selbst oder ihre Wahrnehmung zu ernst zu nehmen? Auf jeden Fall.
New Jersey indie quintet Real Estate come full circle on their sixth album, Daniel, cresting the arc of maturation they've been building on for their last several records while returning to the charm and simplicity of their earliest days. Daniel arrives 15 years into the band's journey from post-college suburban melancholy to full-on adulthood, and the themes of growing up, worry for the next generation, and the weird and persistent washes of change that have been creeping into singer/songwriter Martin Courtney's work since he became a father, continue here. What's different about Daniel is how these themes get framed. The band changes course from the global influences and experimental textures they flirted with on previous albums and revert to concise, jangly pop tunes. Recorded in Nashville with producer Daniel Tashian (perhaps best known for his work on Kacey Musgraves' Grammy-winning 2018 album Golden Hour), tracks like the hook-filled "Water Underground" or "Flowers" are direct and to the point, with sculpted arrangements that add a subtle country-pop flavor in the form of airy pedal steel and wooden acoustic guitars dancing with more modernized synth sequences. There are nods to all the inspirations Real Estate has been moved by, from the bright power pop balladry borrowed from Big Star on "Interior" to the latter-day Feelies-isms of "Say No More" to touches of the spaced-out Grateful Dead-informed guitar noodling throughout. Tashian's gracefully layered production also brings in a feeling very specific to the best introverted folk-rock albums of 1992. There are overt lyrical references to Neil Young's Harvest Moon that reinforce the album's influence on Daniel's mellow country undercurrents, and moments like the cloudy ambience of "Airdrop" or the jumpy beauty of "Market Street" tap into the same combination of existential uneasiness and reflective joy R.E.M. embraced on Automatic for the People. Daniel re-centers Real Estate in a way that highlights their strengths without simply repeating past victories. The songwriting honors the stage of life Courtney and his bandmates are presently in, and the nuanced production replaces potential clutter with sparkle that sharpens the pop edges of the songs. This is Real Estate at their best, giving us the same bright and bittersweet indie perfection as always, only better with age and experience.
(by Fred Thomas, All Music Guide)
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