''Atlas'' is the third studio album by the American
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band Real Estate, released on March 4, 2014, on Domino Records. It was their first album recorded with the drummer Jackson Pollis and keyboard player Matt Kallman, and the last with the lead guitarist and founding member Matt Mondanile.
Background
After touring for the album ''
Days
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, and night. This daily cyc ...
'' was finished, in late 2012 Real Estate took a break. While guitarist Mondanile and bass guitarist Alex Bleeker worked on their respective solo projects, lead singer and guitarist
Martin Courtney
Martin Courtney IV (born September 28, 1985) is an American musician and the frontman of the American indie rock band Real Estate.
In 2015, Courtney also released his first solo album, ''Many Moons,'' followed by his second solo album, ''Magic ...
married and was busy writing songs, which was something that he had started while touring. The band then spent winter and spring working on songs, taking up a total of eight to nine months on songwriting before recording commenced. In mid-2012 and throughout 2013, the band featured new material in their shows.
A friend of Real Estate suggested the album be produced by Jim O'Rourke, an idea which intrigued the band since they were fans of his work on
Wilco
Wilco is an American Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...
's seminal album ''
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Wilco, originally self-released on September 18, 2001, on their website, and in retail stores on April 23, 2002, through Nonesuch Records. Recording sessions for the a ...
'', and felt that his production style would fit with the "clean record" that they wanted to make. As the band was certain that working together would be unlikely given O'Rourke's enigmatic nature, their label proposed working with Tom Schick instead. Schick had co-produced Wilco's most recent album, ''
The Whole Love
''The Whole Love'' is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Wilco, released on September 27, 2011. It is the first Wilco album that was released on their own label dBpm. Attendees at Wilco's 2011 Solid Sound Festival at the Massachu ...
'', and was also the house engineer at The Loft, Wilco's studio in Chicago, Illinois. Since Wilco would be on tour, they gave Real Estate permission to record at the studio and use their gear, the first time for any band without Wilco's presence.
After mostly recording ''Days'' as a three-piece of Courtney, Mondanile and Bleeker, the addition of drummer Jackson Pollis – who had played with Real Estate since 2011 – enabled them to record basic tracks live as opposed to overdubbing tracks one by one. Before recording started, the band decided to add more sophisticated keyboard parts to be played by someone more proficient. Jonah Maurer, who joined Real Estate along with Pollis for the ''Days'' tour and performed several of the new songs live during his time in the band, had moved on to join
Titus Andronicus
''The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus'', often shortened to ''Titus Andronicus'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first t ...
. As a result, they recruited Matt Kallman, formerly of
Girls
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. ''daughter'' or ''girlfriend'' regardless of age, ...
, and had him write his own parts with a little direction. At one point, Wilco leader
Jeff Tweedy
Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, singer songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music care ...
visited the studio to witness the band recording several takes of a song that received glowing enthusiasm from him, but ultimately did not make the album.
The album was recorded over the summer and fall of 2013 at The Loft in Chicago and the Magic Shop in New York City. The album was also mixed at the Magic Shop. The album was subsequently mastered by
Greg Calbi
Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey.
Biography
Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...
at
Sterling Sound
George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.
Biography
Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
in New York City with the bonus tracks being mastered by Joe Lambert at Joe Lambert Mastering.
Artwork
The artwork for the album comes from a mural painted by the Polish artist
Stefan Knapp
Stefan Knapp (11 July 1921 – 12 October 1996) was a Polish painter and sculptor, who worked in Great Britain. He developed and patented a technique of painting with enamel paint on steel, facilitating decorating public architectural struc ...
for the former
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
chain
Alexander's
Alexander's, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that owns 7 properties in New York metropolitan area, including 731 Lexington Avenue, the headquarters of Bloomberg L.P. It is controlled by Vornado Realty Trust. It was founded by George Farka ...
in
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...
.
The mural has since been disassembled following the close of Alexander's and the Bergen Museum of Art & Science's purchase of the mural. There were local efforts to find a location large enough for its display, including at the former Xanadu complex in
East Rutherford
East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 10,022, an inc ...
. However, the mural was only temporarily put on display in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Reception
''Atlas'' received widespread acclaim from contemporary music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a
normalized
Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science
* Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations
* Normalization model, used in ...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
score of 78, based on 33 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". The album was recognized as one of The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far by ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials.
The term is also applie ...
'' in August 2014.
The album debuted at number 34 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Top 200 chart."Billboard" Billboard Chart March 8, 2014.
Track listing
Personnel
*
Martin Courtney
Martin Courtney IV (born September 28, 1985) is an American musician and the frontman of the American indie rock band Real Estate.
In 2015, Courtney also released his first solo album, ''Many Moons,'' followed by his second solo album, ''Magic ...
– vocals, guitar
* Matt Mondanile – acoustic and electric guitars
* Alex Bleeker – bass guitar, vocals on "How Might I Live"
*Jackson Pollis –
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
and percussion
*Matt Kallman – keyboards
*Julian Lynch –
clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
Technical
*Tom Schick –
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...