Now I really hope I'm not jinxing anything here, but it would seem that old man Winter is finally loosening his grip on us here in North Carolina. We haven't had it too bad in comparison to our mid-western friends (sorry, Jason), but regardless, I'm just thankful that it's finally starting to warm up.
The coincidence of Real Estate releasing their third album, Atlas, and the burgeoning of spring is most excellent. The masterful combination of jangle-y, guitar-pop hooks and and laid back vocals that kept the band's last album, Days, in my CD player all of last summer is back again, just with a little more refinement. Rhythmic consistency and heavy emphasis on melody allow the band to border on what some might broadly call "easy-listening" without falling into any of the department-store-music pitfalls that genre can entail.
Go outside and enjoy spring and listen to Atlas while you're doing it! No disappointment will be had, I promise (unless you're still knee-deep in snow, in which case, you have my sympathy).
*Bonus*: Learn how to play "Crime" with this awesome guitar tab video
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