Real Estate have announced plans for their follow-up to 2017's In Mind. The new record — out February 28 via Domino — is called The Main Thing. And today, the band have offered up the first taste of the album with a new track.
The lead single is titled "Paper Cup" and features Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso/Mountain Man. The song arrives alongside Nick Roney-directed visuals, which can be seen below. The video stars an animatronic squirrel named Chipper who plays in a children's arcade only to die a slow and creepy death.
In a statement, here's what Real Estate's Martin Courtney had to say about the song:
"Paper Cup" is a song about getting older and realizing that this thing that I fell into doing over ten years ago — being a musician, writing songs, being a guy in a band — this may end up being my life's work. Watching the people around me change and evolve, take on new challenges, and feeling sort of stuck in a rut, in a way. Feeling uncertain of the validity of being an artist in an age of climate change and general political and social unrest around the world.
It's a song about questioning your chosen path in life and searching for meaning in what you do.
Those questions don't really get resolved in this song, but ironically, the process of making this record — really diving deep and trying to make it the best thing we've ever made — reaffirmed in me, and I think in all of us in this band, why we are doing this.
Real Estate announced they'd been working on The Main Thing back in March 2019. According to the band, the record "dives even further into the musical dichotomies they're known for — lilting, bright guitar lines set against emotionally nuanced lyrics, complex arrangements conveyed breezily."
Real Estate will head out on U.S. tour later this year. See those dates here.
Watch the video for "Paper Cup" below, where you'll also find the record's tracklisting.
The Main Thing:
1. Friday
2. Paper Cup (ft. Sylvan Esso)
3. Gone 4. You
5. November
6. Falling Down
7. Also A But
8. The Main Thing
9. Shallow Sun
10. Sting
11. Silent World
12. Procession
13. Brother
The lead single is titled "Paper Cup" and features Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso/Mountain Man. The song arrives alongside Nick Roney-directed visuals, which can be seen below. The video stars an animatronic squirrel named Chipper who plays in a children's arcade only to die a slow and creepy death.
In a statement, here's what Real Estate's Martin Courtney had to say about the song:
"Paper Cup" is a song about getting older and realizing that this thing that I fell into doing over ten years ago — being a musician, writing songs, being a guy in a band — this may end up being my life's work. Watching the people around me change and evolve, take on new challenges, and feeling sort of stuck in a rut, in a way. Feeling uncertain of the validity of being an artist in an age of climate change and general political and social unrest around the world.
It's a song about questioning your chosen path in life and searching for meaning in what you do.
Those questions don't really get resolved in this song, but ironically, the process of making this record — really diving deep and trying to make it the best thing we've ever made — reaffirmed in me, and I think in all of us in this band, why we are doing this.
Real Estate announced they'd been working on The Main Thing back in March 2019. According to the band, the record "dives even further into the musical dichotomies they're known for — lilting, bright guitar lines set against emotionally nuanced lyrics, complex arrangements conveyed breezily."
Real Estate will head out on U.S. tour later this year. See those dates here.
Watch the video for "Paper Cup" below, where you'll also find the record's tracklisting.
The Main Thing:
1. Friday
2. Paper Cup (ft. Sylvan Esso)
3. Gone 4. You
5. November
6. Falling Down
7. Also A But
8. The Main Thing
9. Shallow Sun
10. Sting
11. Silent World
12. Procession
13. Brother