Real Estate Touring Behind “11-year, 7-month” Anniversary of Classic Album, “Atlas”

It’s a milestone one can never forget—a special moment in time forever etched in one’s memory.

This isn’t a silver or diamond jubilee we’re talking about. Those are a dime a dozen. 

No—this is something far more important: the 11 year, seven-month anniversary—that time-honored benchmark celebrated by all. This week, Real Estate—the indie-rock institution with ties to the Bay Area—will continue that tradition by embarking on a tour honoring the 139-month birthday of their iconic third album, “Atlas.”

Ok, yeah, we all know that Real Estate just threw out a totally arbitrary date as an excuse to tour behind a beloved album. But as the band’s bassist Alex Bleeker explains, in a world where live music faces endless competition for people’s attention, you gotta dig up something to get the crowds out.

“Yeah, if we’re being frank, this is a great record and an important one for our career, but this is really more a fan service thing,” said Bleeker, who lives in West Marin. “But we’re all about servicing the fans, because that services us, and we love that relationship. We’re always trying to figure out a hook to get people to come to shows—to get off the couch and stop watching Netflix and come see us one more time.

On Friday and Saturday, Real Estate will bring their “Atlas” shows to a couple of Bay Area locales off the traditional road circuit—Felton and Mount Tamalpais (correct, a mountain.) These will be the band’s first shows without longtime guitarist Julian Lynch, who recently announced his defeature from the group under amicable terms.

The Friday show will be at the Felton Music Hall (formerly Don Quixote’s) and the Saturday gig will be part of the annual Sound Summit Festival—a scene music gathering set at the Mountain Amphitheater on Mount Tamalpais that will also include Canadian indie-pop maestros Alvvays and Sacramento veterans Cake.

“For someone who lives in West Marin, it doesn’t get any more local than Mt. Tam,” said Bleeker. “I’ve always wanted to play at Sound Summitt—every year they release the lineup for this fest and we aren’t on it, I get super bummed. So, yeah, can’t wait to play on Saturday.”

While Bleeker will be enjoying the stunning views, fans will get the benefit of hearing one of Real Estate’s most venerable albums. A strikingly consistent band—they’ve truly never released even a mediocre album—“Atlas” saw the band perhaps at the peak of their powers, harnessing the languid rock modicum of the Feelies and the Clean while creating pastoral harmonies reminiscent of XTC and California 60s surf outfits. It’s a standout vehicle in particular for Real Estate guitarist and chief songwriter Martin Courtney, who grew up with Bleeker in New Jersey.

“Atlas” received one of the highest rated reviews of the year from Pitchfork and landed on countless best-of lists, capitalizing on a moment when indie rock truly was in the Zeitgeist.

“We all absolutely love this album, but I also think it benefits from the time and place of things,” said Bleeker. “I often wonder if our last album, [2024’s] “Daniel” had come out around that time, if it would have received a similar reaction. But yeah, there are all these extra, non-musical things that contribute to a feeling that people have for a particular album, and I can’t deny that, because that’s true for myself as a music fan.”

Many of the songs on the album never fell out of the band’s live rotation, and a few—“Talking Backwards” and “Had to Hear”—rank among Real Estate’s most-played tracks. “Talking Backwards,” a flitting, ebullient pop piece about relationship miscommunications, actually almost never made it on to the album, according to Bleeker.

“That was this classic case of us bringing the album to our record label and them being like ‘we’re not hearing a single here,’” said Bleeker. “And so, Martin went back into the lab and banged out ‘Talking Backwards’ . I knew right away that one was right on the money. It sounds super cliché, but yeah, it was one of those moments when everyone benefits.”

In addition to those tracks, “Atlas” included one of Bleeker’s most memorable songwriting contributions to Real Estate. “How Might I Live,” is a mournful, forlorn ballad about doubt and despair, punctuated by Bleeker’s wounded and lamenting opening line, “How might I live to betray you?”

While the song has some hopeful undertones, the themes nonetheless are weighty and deep, but Bleeker said it hasn’t been too difficult revisiting that track.

“I can connect with the emotions that I was feeling when I wrote that song and I remember exactly what it meant to me at the time, but once it’s written and recorded, it just takes on a different energy and life,” said Bleeker. “That’s one of the things that’s therapeutic about writing—once it becomes a song, it’s like a separate entity, somewhat removed from its original meaning.” 

While not the primary songwriter for Real Estate, Bleeker fronts numerous other projects and on September 27, he’ll play with the West Marin Grateful Dead Appreciation Society (Bleeker is one of foremost Deadheads in the indie rock world) as part of a benefit concert for Mesa Park in Bolinas. Real Estate is also working on new material, which Bleeker said they hope to release next year.

“Obviously, there are a lot of factors beyond our control, but we hope to have something out in 2026,” said Bleeker. “I’ll say it’s very likely we will have a few singles out by this time next year, at the very least.”

For a band as admirably and durably great as Real Estate, the next album will surely be a memorable one, which can only mean one thing: start making your calendars for 2038, when that classic 11-year, seven-month anniversary tour starts.

Show Details:
Real Estate with Subtle Orange
Where: Felton Music Hall
When: 8 p.m., Friday, September 12
Tickets: $41.15, available here. 

Sound Summit Music Festival
Where: Mountain Theater, Mount Tamalpais
When: 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday, September 13
Tickets: $138.50, available here.