On Real Estate's "Wonder Years", from their 2011 album Days, bassist Alex Bleeker affects a dreamy croon not far removed from the band's usual singer Martin Courtney. But on the ramshackle folk-rock tune "Don't Look Down," a song from Alex Bleeker and the Freaks' forthcoming LP How Far Away, Bleeker truly lets his freak flag fly, drawling a wistful farewell to an ex-lover in loosey-goosey J Mascis-style whine. Elsewhere on the track, Bleeker remains in his melodic, low-key wheelhouse, riding a bouncy bassline and pleasantly jangly guitar to an understated chorus. When an organ suddenly materializes the song's closing moments, it offers just enough of a lift to give this amiably rumbling track a satisfying conclusion.

[from How Far Away; out 05/28/13 via Woodsist]