After spending the past year in lockdown, Real Estate have announced a new EP, Half a Human, out March 26. The American indie rock group have also shared the MV for the title track.
Half a Human, the new six-track EP by American indie rock group Real Estate, was recorded during sessions for their 2020 album, The Main Thing.
The tracks were constructed when each of the four members began trading the material back and forth remotely under lockdown. By finding new ways to work together, the group explored new sounds and helped develop a new “thesis statement” for themselves.
Vocalist and guitarist Martin Coutney says,
“Life keeps changing and additional responsibilities and stresses keep being added, but this band is still here. When I was writing a lot of these songs, I was feeling a little weird about being in a band. Like, ‘how is this still a thing?’ I was feeling silly about it and then coming around to it at the same time. This is what we’re good at and it’s what we love to do and want to keep doing. I don’t want to do anything else.”
In addition to the announcement, the band have released the title track alongside a mind-bending MV directed by FISK.
Previously performed during the band’s live sets, ‘Half a Human’ was written by Courtney about the alienation of life on tour, where cheap hotels and desolate roads become nostalgic pastimes and as a sense of uncertainty on a daily basis.
The song is relevant than ever as the world continues to adapt to the ongoing pandemic.
Other tracks in the EP include ‘D+’, written and sung by bassist Alex Bleeker as he recalls watching the aftermath of 9/11 from the band’s native New Jersey. ‘In The Garden’ reflects the central question of the EP: what does it mean to make art in America while holding on to your roots and pushing yourself into exciting new places?
Released weeks before COVID-19 shut down the U.S. under lockdown last year, Real Estate’s fourth studio album The Main Thing was praised by NPR Music as “deeply reflective”, by UPROXX as self-questioning and frequently beautiful”, and VICE as “strikingly more adventurous”.
In addition to their forthcoming Half a Human EP, the band released an augmented reality concert experience called The Quarantour in which they performed in a refrigerator and covered songs by The Doobie Brothers, Galaxie 500, and Joni Mitchell while raising money for Fair Fight charity organization.
Half a Human is available digitally and on 1000 copies of a limited edition 12”. Pre-order it from Domino Mart or the band’s store here.
Half a Human Tracklisting:
1. Desire Path
2. Half a Human
3. Soon
4. D+
5. In the Garden
6. Ribbon
Photo credit: Jake Michaels
