Real Estate - The Wee Small Hours: B-Sides And Other Detritus 2011-2025

From Allmusic guide:

Since stumbling blearily into existence in the late 2000s, Real Estate grew gradually from being the picture of post-collegiate, happily adrift indie rock mellowness to a more mature if just as relaxed sound. This progression from soundtracking an endless long weekend drinking beers around the pool with friends to writing songs about family and existential confusion took years, and can be traced in the slow changes across Real Estate's discography. The Wee Small Hours serves as an auxiliary means for tracking the changes in the band, as this compilation of B-sides, unreleased material, and other miscellanea draws from diversions and side quests dating as far back as 2011, and going up to sessions that happened after the release of their 2024 album Daniel. The compilation jumps between phases nonlinearly, beginning with the lush and synthesizer-friendly "Pink Sky," a song recorded in 2024, then segueing into the earlier "Exactly Nothing," a track dense with the cloudy reverb and shimmering guitar jangle the band embraced in their earlier days. The refinement of something like "Pink Sky" or the group's reverent cover of Elton John's "Daniel" stands in stark contrast to the woozy, head-in-the-clouds presence of 2012 outtake "In My Car," and these differences are part of what makes the compilation such a fun listen. The core elements of Real Estate's musical mission are there in their breezy rendition of Television's "Days," the low-impact punk of their Nerves cover "Paper Dolls," a few alarmingly laid-back instrumentals, and the more polished studio tracks alike. It's a surprisingly cohesive document, especially for a collection of B-sides and ephemera that tend to color outside the lines of the band's official album statements. The Wee Small Hours shows Real Estate at their most experimental and curious, and yet they maintain their propensity for friendly jangle, controlled arrangement, dreamy production, and all the other unique aspects of their sound that have remained constants since they began.