The Wee Small Hours: B-Sides and Other Detritus 2011-2025 consists of rarities spanning Real Estate’s last decade plus with Domino.
Today, indie rock mainstays Real Estate announce a new compilation album, consisting of rarities and b-sides spanning the band’s 14 years working with Domino Recording Co. The project is entitled The Wee Small Hours: B-Sides and Other Detritus 2011 – 2025, and will be out this Friday, May 2nd. “This is something we’ve talked about doing for a while now: a compilation of non-album tracks with a title, subtitle, and maybe throw a span of years in there to make it official-sounding,” Martin Courtney said of the compilation. “The title comes from the lyrics to an unreleased song we recorded during the Atlas sessions at Wilco’s loft in Chicago back in 2013, which in turn references a great Frank Sinatra record. This feels to us like a worthy addition to the catalog and we hope you all love it.”
The compilation’s earliest track dates back to 2011, with a cover of The Strokes’ “Barely Legal” for a Stereogum Tribute album, and the b-side of the “It’s Real” / “Blue Lebaron” 7”. Other covers include “Paper Dolls” (The Nerves) from 2014, “Days” (Television) from 2021, and of course “Daniel” (Elton John) from 2024. It also includes “In My Car,” dating back to a Record Store Day fanzine flexi-disc from 2012, more b-sides including the tracks from the Atlas bonus 7” from 2013, and an unreleased track entitled “Two Part” from the Atlas sessions.
To preview the forthcoming compilation, Real Estate release a new song today called “Pink Sky.” The compilation-opener, “Pink Sky” was recorded last autumn at Tiny Telephone Studios in Oakland, during the same one-day session as the band’s cover of Elton John’s classic “Daniel.” The “Pink Sky” video directed by Micah Welner was made in frontman Martin Courtney’s hometown of Beacon, NY in early April, and features him in full wizard regalia.
Of the track, Courtney notes: “‘Pink Sky’ was among the batch of songs we brought to Nashville to record for our album Daniel. Somehow it didn’t end up getting recorded, because it wasn’t totally finished, and it also just didn’t seem to play well with the others. About 18 months later, when we were in San Francisco to play Outside Lands, we recorded this and a cover of Elton John’s “Daniel” in a few hours at Tiny Telephone in Oakland. A cool alternate title for the song could be ‘Mystik Spiral,’ like the band from Daria.”
The Wee Small Hours: B-Sides and Other Detritus 2011 – 2025 follows Real Estate’s sixth full-length album Daniel produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves) recorded during an ebullient nine-day spree at RCA Studio A in Nashville. Real Estate consists of New Jersey natives Martin Courtney (vocals, guitar), Alex Bleeker (bass, vocals), Matt Kallman (keyboards), Julian Lynch (guitar) and Sammi Niss (drums).
