Words: Rajan Nausa
Photo: Sinna Nasseri

Real Estate, the indie band known for their dreamy, laid-back sound, continues to resonate with fans worldwide. Frontman Martin Courtney reflects on how their music captures the nostalgia of carefree youth while evolving with life’s complexities. As they gear up for their highly anticipated performance at Joyland Festival Jakarta 2024, the band’s recent cover of Elton John’s “Daniel” highlights their unique ability to blend classic influences with their signature style.

 

Despite the challenges of the modern music landscape, Courtney’s hope for listeners remains simple: to find joy, connection, and kindness through their songs. Whether performing as a band or through his solo endeavors, Real Estate’s music serves as a heartfelt soundtrack to life’s cherished moments—a sentiment they’re excited to share with fans in Jakarta and beyond.

 

Real Estate’s music has been described as having a dreamy, warm, hazy, laid-back vibe. How did growing up in Ridgewood, New Jersey influence the sound? Are there any specific memories of New Jersey in the music?

A lot of our earlier music—I don’t know if it’s specific to New Jersey, but definitely reflecting on sort of, you know, more kind of carefree times. Honestly, when I was writing the earlier songs for this band, especially for Real Estate, it felt like I was intentionally looking back on my younger days through rose-tinted glasses. It just seemed to fit the vibe. I’m just more naturally prone to writing softer, more laid-back types of music. Finding lyrics to match; that is sort of the goal. That was at least earlier on. Now, I think when I’m writing, I’m just sort of writing about my life, and if it fits the music, so be it. But that’s like less of the goal. We grew up in a nice place. There were lots of trees, and we were lucky to grow up in a sheltered environment. So yeah, I’m sure that’s part of it. But I don’t really know why anyone’s music sounds the way it does. It’s sort of very specific to each person, I guess. You will have no idea why you sound like you do.

As an indie band, what has been the most challenging part of staying true to your musical identity while growing your audience at the same time?

It’s been the idea of staying, just doing what comes naturally, and hoping that people will like it. People, for the most part, seem to like it. I guess we’ve sometimes received criticism that our records sound too similar or something, or at least that’s from critics. I think maybe that’s because they don’t know what else to say. It’s usually reviews where people are like, “This band consistently makes enjoyable music, and when are they going to change?” or something like: “Do you want us to make less enjoyable music?” But I think for us, or at least for me, I don’t really know how to write anything other than what comes naturally to me—so, we sound the way we do.

The challenge for me is to find new ways to challenge myself as a songwriter. For example, with this new record, I challenged myself to write 10 pop songs instead of just writing whatever comes naturally. Generally, there are usually some pop songs, but often there are some jammier stuff or more ambient or meandering type music. With this record, I thought, “What if we just made pop songs?” For me, it was an exercise—just something fun to do. That’s what felt exciting to me at the time, so it’s naturally what I leaned into while writing. But honestly, it can be different every time.

That’s very interesting. And your band was formed in 2008, right?

That’s right. 

With the growing importance of streaming platforms, etc., how do you think the indie music scene has evolved since then? And does it affect your relationship with your fans over the years, especially with those from faraway places like here in Jakarta?

I think it’s sort of a double-edged sword. The idea of streaming is helpful; it’s like people are able to hear us from around the world without too much monetary investment; you pay for a subscription and then maybe you read about our band briefly on the internet and you say, “Hey, maybe I’ll check that out.” And then maybe you like it, maybe you can come see our show. So, I think that’s great. It just would be nice if streams paid more—it becomes a struggle for us musicians because it’s hard to make a living.

If we were getting paid more fairly for the amount of streams that we get, it would be easier to do this job. But as things stand, we just have to travel a lot; you know, it’s a lot of traveling. So, it’s exciting to get to go places that I’ve never been to, like Indonesia. I’m really excited to do that. But at the same time, I’ve got kids at home. It’s stressful to leave. And it’s hard on my family. So yeah, I think it would be nice if there was a balance where you could make money from streaming so you didn’t have to heavily rely on traveling but That way, you could still travel, and play music live. I love performing live, I love playing with my band, and I love meeting people who listen to my music. I think it’s so exciting and such a privilege. But yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know if we would have gotten the recognition or if I would have the career that I have, if not for the fact that streaming exists. It’s just tough, you know, a band at our level kind of just like middle of the road. We’re lucky to have a fan base, but we’re not huge; we’re just sort of a mid-level indie band. So it’s tough for bands like us.

For sure, you’ll get there.

Yeah I hope so. We’ve been doing this a long time; we’ll see 

Since you have a solo release, when you’re writing for Real Estate, do you ever find yourself setting aside certain ideas that feel more personal or suited for your solo release? How do you differentiate between what’s a band song and what’s a Martin Courtney song?

Honestly, it depends. When I made my two solo records, I decided that the next one would be a solo record rather than a Real Estate record, based on the circumstances at the time.

The most recent one I did was really in the depths of COVID, and I was writing songs. I just thought, there’s no point in making a record with Real Estate right now because we’re not going to be able to tour and it costs a lot of money. It’s just such a huge effort and I just thought I’d make a solo record because I just want to keep writing and I want to work on something, but it’s sort of a lower-stakes situation when I’m doing it for myself, and sometimes you just want to do something different.

So yeah, there’s just different reasons that I’ll make solo records. It’s not like I’m writing songs thinking this one works for Real Estate; this one works for my solo stuff; it’s sort of like I go into different projects and then I’m in that project. Like right now I’m writing for Real Estate. I’ve been writing songs, and the idea is they’re going to be on the next record for Real Estate because that’s what I feel like doing. I feel like making another Real Estate record right now and for the most part, that’s kind of what I always want to do.

Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever do another solo record. I really don’t know. It just depends on these kinds of very specific circumstances that come up.

 

Now, when you release songs for your solo record, are there any musical or lyrical risks that you’ve taken in your solo work that you wouldn’t necessarily have tried in Real Estate? If so, can you give us an example?

Well, I mean, I think the last one I made for my recent solo record was what led me to the idea of this new Real Estate record—which is the new real circuit of all pop songs—you know, three and a half minute pop songs, and with the last solo record I made, it was sort of leaning in that direction but it was more abstract.

The songs were less structured and it was kind of a collection of ideas that I then sort of forced into being songs. It’s a little more abstract of a record than ‘Daniel’ is, although it’s still pretty straightforward. I don’t know about risks necessarily, but I take it as an opportunity to do more on my own, to play more instruments than I would with Real Estate, to write more of the parts. Although with Real Estate, I kind of write a lot of the parts too, but to be more hands on, and then also to work with different people. I guess Real Estate has started being more open to allowing other musicians into the mix, bringing in someone on pedal steel—for example—or bringing in string players, or even having a more collaborative relationship with the producer; that was something that took many years to feel comfortable with that, and so I think making a solo record was my way of becoming more comfortable working with other people outside of the core group that I’m used to working with. I guess maybe if you consider that taking a risk, it felt like that way for me, just bringing in different types of instrumentation and working with different producers.

Interesting.. So we need to talk about your latest single ‘Daniel’—which is a cover of Elton John’s iconic song, and it is a bold choice. So, what drew you to this particular track, and why did you feel it resonated with the Real Estate sound?

We named our record Daniel, and then we did a bunch of silly stuff related to the name Daniel. And we played a concert for people that are named Daniel. When we decided to do a concert for people named Daniel, we thought, well, why don’t we cover Daniel by Elton John? You know, we’re just kind of having fun. But also, that’s a great song.

So then over the summer, we decided on an extra day in San Francisco to book some time in the studio, and we decided to record it, again, just for fun. I think because people were asking when we would play it live, people were like, “Oh, you should; when are you going to record that?” We didn’t really think of it as something that we needed to record. It was just like something we were doing live. It’s just something to do for fun. I’m glad we did—it turned out really well. I got to talk to Elton John for his radio show. That was really cool and not something that I ever thought would happen. It has opened some interesting doors for sure.

 

That’s really amazing. So finally, last question for your Indonesian and global fans who may be listening to your music in a completely different environment. What message do you hope your songs communicate to us?

I don’t feel like we’re a band that really has songs that have a message, and I hope that people hear our music and it makes them feel happy, or, you know, it can be associated with good memories. My favorite music is the stuff that I would listen to with the people that I love and they’ll bring back these nice memories of whatever—my relationship with my wife, my kids, or with my friends. I hope that people are able to form those kinds of memories while listening to my music. That’s like the greatest, coolest thing about making music: having people listen to it.

Having an audience is like knowing that people are out there sort of living their lives and my music is playing in the background. It’s such a cool thing to think about. In terms of an actual message, I don’t really know. I just hope that people are treating each other nicely and enjoying their lives while they listen to Real Estate.