Real Estate Plays The Higher Ground in Burlington, VT – March, 21

It’s not common to see an staff writer stray from his or her namesake territory and cover a show on foreign turf. Every so often, an act so deserving makes an appearance in a neighboring state, a small road trip ensues and the audience is made even more aware of the boundless concert opportunities offered in the Northeast.

The most recent example of this came about on Friday night at The Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont, where the New Jersey-based jangle-pop outfit, Real Estate put on a headlining set with opening act, Pure X.

Currently on the road in support of their recently released third album, Real Estate played several dates at South by Southwest and two sold out nights in Cambridge, Massachusetts before heading north to Burlington. Their tour with Pure X is currently en route to the Midwest before heading overseas for a European Circuit in May.

While Real Estate’s set at the Higher Ground featured a large portion of material from their debut LP and 2011’s Days, much of the set was made up of material from the latest addition to their discography, Atlas.

Real Estate introduced their set with “Had to Hear,” the same track that opens Atlas. “Had to Hear,” along with much of the material on Real Estate’s latest album, focuses on the barriers in communication brought about by life on the road. For someone who writes so openly about the difficulties of touring, however, Martin Courtney gave the impression of being perfectly comfortable on stage at The Higher Ground.

Real Estate’s live set was incredibly cohesive; Courtney, Bleeker, and guitarist Matt Mondanile’s experience playing together since high school is entirely apparent in their performance. The threesome’s ability to lengthen their songs into intricate jams showed an amazing level of musical awareness. With the recent addition of keyboardist Matt Kallman and contributions from drummer Jackson Pollis, Real Estate’s live sound features a collection of textures and layers that produce a remarkably full sound.

The consistency in Real Estate’s current lineup is largely the result of the recording process behind Atlas. During a sting of tour dates in Wilco’s schedule last summer, Real Estate took over Jeff Tweedy’s Loft studio in Chicago and recorded the album in a relatively short period of time, coming into the process with the album completely written.

It was no surprise on Friday that Real Estate’s set had been the product of more than a year of rehearsing Atlas’ material. While Burlington may be a hike from the Upstate area, Real Estate’s appearance at The Higher Ground proved to be a wholly acceptable reason to make the weekend trip to our northern neighbor.

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