''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 States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, 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 Matthew A. Mondanile is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American indie rock band Real Estate (band), Real Estate, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and for his solo music ...

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, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two solar ...

'' was finished, in late 2012 Real Estate took a break. While guitarist Mondanile and bass guitarist

Alex Bleeker Alexander William Bleeker (born July 28, 1986) is an American musician and guitarist. He is best known as the bassist of the American indie rock band Real Estate, with whom he has recorded four studio albums, and as the frontman and primary reco ...

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 S ...

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 alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently dur ...

's seminal album ''

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Wilco, first released on September 18, 2001. Recording sessions for the album began in late 2000. These sessions, which were documented for the film '' I Am Trying to Break ...

'', 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 American alternative rock group 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 Ma ...

'', 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 ''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen ...

. As a result, they recruited Matt Kallman, formerly of

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...

, 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, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, started his music career in high s ...

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 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 Bisho ...

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 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 at ...

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 A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

painted by the Polish artist

Stefan Knapp Stefan Knapp (July 11, 1921 – October 12, 1996) was a Polish-born 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 ...

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, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain

Alexander's Alexander's 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 Farkas and ...

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. While various suggestions to the non-profit organization concerning its potential location have amassed, the mural was only recently 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.Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

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 (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' in August 2014. The album debuted at #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 advertise ...

'' Top 200 chart."Billboard"
Billboard Chart March 8, 2014.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar *

– acoustic and electric guitars *

– bass guitar, vocals on "How Might I Live" *Jackson Pollis –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and percussion *Matt Kallman – keyboards *Julian Lynch –

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

Technical *Tom Schick –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, mixing and production *Mark Greenberg – assistant engineering *Alex Nappi – assistant mixing *Kabir Hermon – assistant mixing *Greg Calbi – mastering Design *Rob Carmichael – graphic design *Irmgard Carpenter – photography *Shawn Brackbill – photography *Charles Poekel – photography

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Real Estate (band) albums Domino Recording Company albums