The band Real Estate focuses on 'The Main Thing' with new release, tour

Real Estate's new album The Main Thing is out Feb. 28 on Domino. For the first time ever, the band has brought in outside instrumentalists and special guests like Sylvan Esso, whose vocalist Amelia Meath features on first single "Paper Cup." The Nick Roney-directed music video chronicles the final performance in the life of a giant animatronic squirrel named Chipper.

Watch and share "Paper Cup" (feat. Sylvan Esso) HERE

On "Paper Cup" and the making of The Main Thing, Martin Courtney says, "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."

Alongside members Alex Bleeker (bass), Matthew Kallman (keyboards), Julian Lynch (guitar, vocals) and Jackson Pollis, primary songwriter Martin Courtney explains, "Even before we decided where to record or who to record it with, I knew it needed to sound that good," but as Bleeker adds, "We discovered through the care and attention that we brought to this record that making music to resonate with other people is our catharsis. The 'main thing' is following your path of inspiration and hoping to inspire that in people around you."

Real Estate will tour this spring, with tickets on-sale here. The Main Thing will be available on CD, LP and digitally. A limited edition, gold-colored 2xLP – including a tip-on gatefold jacket with Bjorn Copeland's collage piece mounted on the front cover – is available to pre-order from Domino Mart here.

Track List:

Friday
Paper Cup (feat. Sylvan Esso)
Gone
You
November
Falling Down
Also A But
The Main Thing
Shallow Sun
Sting
Silent World
Procession
Brother

Tour Dates:

4/9 - El Club - Detroit, MI*
4/10 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL*
4/11 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN*
4/13 - Slowdown - Omaha, NE*
4/14 - The Truman - Kansas City, MO*
4/15 - The Ready Room - St. Louis, MO*
4/16 - The Vogue - Indianapolis, IN*
4/17 - Brooklyn Bowl Nashville - Nashville, TN*
4/18 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA*
4/20 - Cat's Cradle - Chapel Hill, NC*
4/21 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC*
4/22 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA*
4/23 - Royale - Boston, MA*
5/7 - Fox Theater - Oakland, CA†
5/8 - The Fonda Theater - Los Angeles, CA†
5/9 - Belly Up Tavern - San Diego, CA†
5/10 - The Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ†
5/12 - The Granada Theater - Dallas, TX†
5/13 - Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater - Austin, TX†
5/14 - White Oak Music Hall - Houston, TX†
5/18 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO#
5/19 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT#
5/21 - Neptune Theatre - Seattle, WA#
5/22 - Revolution Hall - Portland, OR#

*with Palm
†with Meg Baird
#with Itasca