Real Estate - The Main Thing

Pitchfork 73

As they enter their second decade, the indie-rock veterans gently expand the borders of their suburban ennui with plush arrangements and new voices.

The Guardian 40

(Domino)

Three albums of catchily jangling indie into their career, New Jersey’s Real Estate parted ways with founding member and lead guitarist Matt Mondanile in 2016, after a series of women made allegations of sexual misconduct against him. His replacement, Julian Lynch, slotted into the band seamlessly, and the following year’s album, In Mind, picked up where they had left off, showing no dip in form. Which just makes The Main Thing all the more bafflingly anticlimactic.

It isn’t that there is very much wrong with it. The elegant guitar lines still evoke Yo La Tengo, and producer Kevin McMahon has coaxed perfectly fine performances from Real Estate and their collaborators (most notably Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath on Paper Cup). It’s all evidently been carefully thought out. But, except for the unexpected Felt inflections on the disappointingly brief November, and the unusually direct title track, the songs here are achingly dull.