Biography
Martin Courtney, a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, has built a reputation through the relaxed, sweetly melodic indie rock infused with psychedelic touches that he records both independently and as the frontman of Real Estate. After his group’s third album, the Billboard Top 40 entry Atlas, reached stores, he stepped out on his own with the 2015 solo debut Many Moons. Two further Real Estate full-lengths later, his follow-up solo set, Magic Sign, arrived in 2022 still centered on his characteristic rich, gentle jangle yet now contemplating the threshold of adult life.
Courtney grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the son of two real-estate agents. He spent a brief period in 2006 playing keyboards for the indie-punk outfit Titus Andronicus, then obtained his real-estate license upon graduating from the Evergreen State College in 2008. Around the same period he began assembling a band with high-school acquaintances Alex Bleeker, Etienne Duguay, and Matthew Mondanile. Real Estate played its first shows in autumn 2008, Courtney handling lead vocals and guitar, and early the next year the Suburban Beverage 7" appeared, introducing the quartet’s surf-tinged, lo-fi pop. Their self-titled debut LP followed on Woodsist in November. The band moved to Domino Records for its 2011 sophomore effort, Days, which entered the Billboard 200 and peaked at number 52. After extensive touring and several personnel shifts, Courtney, Bleeker, Mondanile, keyboardist Matt Kallman, and drummer Jackson Pollis delivered 2014’s Atlas, which climbed to number 34 on the U.S. chart. In October 2015 Courtney issued his first solo album, Many Moons, on Domino, working alongside Kallman, Woods bassist Jarvis Taveniere, and multi-instrumentalist Julian Lynch.
One year afterward Lynch took Mondanile’s place in Real Estate, and the lineup of Courtney, Bleeker, Pollis, Kallman, and Lynch unveiled In Mind in March 2017. Three years later the same quintet returned with its fifth studio album, The Main Thing, which addressed the mingled sensations of maturation and apocalyptic dread. In 2021 Real Estate issued fresh material via the Half a Human EP. Returning to subjects of youth and early adulthood, Courtney presented his second solo album, Magic Sign, in June 2022. Co-produced by Courtney and Rob Schnapf, the record featured drummer Matt Barrick (of Matt Berninger and the Hold Steady), vocalist Kacey Johansing, and Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo, Coco), among additional contributors.
Courtney grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the son of two real-estate agents. He spent a brief period in 2006 playing keyboards for the indie-punk outfit Titus Andronicus, then obtained his real-estate license upon graduating from the Evergreen State College in 2008. Around the same period he began assembling a band with high-school acquaintances Alex Bleeker, Etienne Duguay, and Matthew Mondanile. Real Estate played its first shows in autumn 2008, Courtney handling lead vocals and guitar, and early the next year the Suburban Beverage 7" appeared, introducing the quartet’s surf-tinged, lo-fi pop. Their self-titled debut LP followed on Woodsist in November. The band moved to Domino Records for its 2011 sophomore effort, Days, which entered the Billboard 200 and peaked at number 52. After extensive touring and several personnel shifts, Courtney, Bleeker, Mondanile, keyboardist Matt Kallman, and drummer Jackson Pollis delivered 2014’s Atlas, which climbed to number 34 on the U.S. chart. In October 2015 Courtney issued his first solo album, Many Moons, on Domino, working alongside Kallman, Woods bassist Jarvis Taveniere, and multi-instrumentalist Julian Lynch.
One year afterward Lynch took Mondanile’s place in Real Estate, and the lineup of Courtney, Bleeker, Pollis, Kallman, and Lynch unveiled In Mind in March 2017. Three years later the same quintet returned with its fifth studio album, The Main Thing, which addressed the mingled sensations of maturation and apocalyptic dread. In 2021 Real Estate issued fresh material via the Half a Human EP. Returning to subjects of youth and early adulthood, Courtney presented his second solo album, Magic Sign, in June 2022. Co-produced by Courtney and Rob Schnapf, the record featured drummer Matt Barrick (of Matt Berninger and the Hold Steady), vocalist Kacey Johansing, and Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo, Coco), among additional contributors.
Albums
Singles
