There is a standard tendency with rock critics, old and new - bring them up and then slam them down. I guess they take that critic word in rock critic too seriously. Or they just simply take themselves too seriously.
The current fave in the ‘bashing mill’ is New Jersey’s Real Estate and their court album “In Mind”. During the three years between albums, three and four the band devoted their time to solo or other projects. It seems the now former lead guitarist Matt Mondanille liked his “Ducktails” project better so he left. Many reviewers used that as a cue to bash “In Mind” as ‘inconsistent’, ‘too laid back’ and so on.
All crap. Real Estate did not truly change their sound, but they did modify it. Maybe the critical reviewers wanted Real Estate to keep producing the same stuff over and over. Don’t know and don’t care. To these ears, the album sounds great. It is more in tune with Martin Courtney’s vision, the one he laid out on his “Many Moons” solo from 2015, and does have a languid, layered vocal flow throughout the album. And it is better for it. If you didn’t know that Real Estate are from New Jersey, you might think they have relocated somewhere on the line between LA and San Francisco.
Julian Lynch, who replaced Mondanille fits in perfectly with his playing style and is one of the reasons the songs have the same feel but do not get you tired of the sound. The same plaudit goes to Beck’s producer Cole MGN who twiddled the knobs here too.
It is hard to set out the favorites, but I’ll go with “Stained Glass”, Time”, closer “Saturday” and particularly “Holding Pattern”.
After a few replays of “In Mind”, I can even offer a bet: many of those reviewers that bashed this album will have it close to the top of their ‘best of’ list as 2017 starts drawing to a close.
