Print Edition: March 12, 2014
Real Estate
Atlas
Atlas, Real Estate’s third full-length album, was recorded in just two weeks in Chicago at Wilco’s home studio, the Loft, a setting that seems to have resonated with Martin Courtney, Matt Mondanile, and Alex Bleeker. Mondanile’s cyclical guitar in tandem with Courtney’s vocals are the most compelling aspect of Real Estate’s music, but when the guitars verge on too breezy and aimless, it can seem monotonous. Luckily, this is not the case on Atlas, as their guitars leads are taut and Tom Schick’s production recalls Good Earth-era Feelies. The big difference between Atlas and their past records is here Courtney’s lyrics no longer retreat into his childhood experiences. Courtney is now married, and his lyrics reflect that, as he looks towards the future. On “Primitive,” he sings “Don’t know where I wanna be / But I’m glad that you’re with me” and “Talking Backwards” finds Courtney feeling disconnected or lost in time, singing about being away from his loved one, “we can talk for hours / we are not getting any closer / we may as well talk backwards.” Atlas has the feel of a mature third record, as Real Estate boldly tries to take hold of an unclear future.
Neneh Cherry
Blank Project
Ruthlessly cutting through poses and aimless rhymes, Neneh Cherry’s spirit of glee and a challenging stare came through on three albums (Raw Like Sushi, Homebrew, and Man) where both rap and pop choruses came through distinct, possessed by a voice that cared about the lyrics as they stood in her songs, and how they responded to history’s. Where a younger Cherry could joke about “The Next Generation,” that’s the serious subject of most of Blank Project. Cherry’s aware of the years that have passed since she started singing, and of her own defensive cynicism (“What I don’t hear can’t upset me,” she speak-sings, fighting off the fever that stands in for love, distraction, and everything, depending on the track). The doldrums wait in the corners of each track, until Cherry breaks through on the Robyn-featuring “Out of the Black.” Unlike the stereotypical story of producer-singer creativity, Cherry and Kieran Hebden, whose recording methods here include live mixing and the use of single takes, have engaged in a real collaboration — Cherry adapts to Hebden’s more distinctive-as-Four-Tet flourishes (“Cynical”), while Hebden keeps most of his time-keeping drum machines and bass pulses subdued and background to Cherry’s spacious storytelling, from tense silence (“Across the Water”) to disco-grunge (“Dossier”).
