Before it was known as a Brooklyn indie supergroup, Real Life Buildings was the house Matthew Van Asselt built. A creative jack-of-all-trades, he splits his time as a musician, visual artist, and publisher/labelhead with Mt. Home Arts. He may have conceived Real Life Buildings earlier in the decade as a solo project, but ever since 2014’s debut LP It Snowed, his performances under that moniker have prominently featured his NYC peers—such as Gabrielle Smith (fka Eskimeaux, now Ó) and Felix Walworth, aka Told Slant. In time, Real Life Buildings blossomed into a full band, better suited for the basement than the bedroom.
The current, five-person configuration includes several recent Brooklyn-based notables, like Lætitia Tamko, the auteur known to most as Vagabon—who plays guitar and contributes some vocals here—as well as Elaiza Santos, Crying’s prog-loving bandleader. Together with bassist Griffin Irvine and drummer/backing vocalist Jon Appel, the group churn out a smart, wiry form of indie rock. Real Life Buildings’ sound finds common ground in its members’ respective backgrounds, while retaining its own raggedy charm.
Van Asselt does most of the singing on Significant Weather, and while he’s not exactly a vocal powerhouse, he is a dead ringer for David Berman. However cozy its rumbling timbre, his adenoidal croon lacks the melodic range and tonal nuance of the limber arrangements surrounding it. There’s plenty of nervous energy lurking in the margins of the album’s endearingly grungy siblings “Understanding Gravity” and “Ground Cover,” and in the queasy, Midwestern lurch powering “Thaw.” But Van Asselt’s koans are so high in the mix, it’s difficult to make out the fireworks, much less appreciate them.
That numbness, that disconnect between kinetic force and emo-inspired stasis, has informed many of Van Asselt’s projects, but especially Real Life Buildings. His lyrics frequently explore themes of mental illness, existential malaise, and romantic despair. His personal revelations are framed conversationally and matter-of-factly. With “Other Windows,” Van Asselt laments over only seeing the sun on Instagram. “No News” finds him looking at the enraged post-election narrative with tired eyes, sketching an all-too-relatable still-life: “In my bedroom, I don’t read the paper, I don’t click the links/I just scroll past them through an endless feed of headlines/Each one is worse than the last one,” he deadpans. On “Understanding Gravity,” he tries to stay optimistic about a dead-end job and an aging childhood cat, proffering up the following wisdom on the former subject: “And if it’s less than minimum wage, at least you have a purpose/You’re not sleeping in until two, having lunch, but calling it breakfast.”
Van Asselt lampshades his self-pity with a volley of self-assured quips. “Seeking comfort is not radical for someone like me,” he sings on “No News,” and later “Like any other person, I desire relevance/But hope that I can achieve it just by sitting at my desk.” Real Life Buildings, though, are most appealing when the band’s members are in clear dialogue. Significant Weather is a testament to their smartness and sincerity, reiterated by the sunny setting: Tamko and Santos’ dulcet harmonies and hopscotching fretwork, Appel and Irvine’s straight-shooting percussion, and above all else, a sense of community.
